Really, Really Up to No Good
by penguinated
Summary: A fic my sister and I have been working on. It starts a bit into the Marauders' sixth year and goes on from there. Not sure how far we'll take it. Just typical teenage drama for Hogwarts' most famous troublemakers.
1. Chapter 1

James Potter and Sirius Black swaggered into Potions class and took their usual seats behind their friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. The general populace was put off by how they self-importantly walked about the school, nonchalantly picking on anyone that even minutely annoyed them. One who was most disgusted by their behavior was Lily Evans (a girl who James continually attempted to woo; thus far, to no avail), who typically would scoff at them and ignore them as hard as she could. Despite all this, James and Sirius went about their lives just as overconfident as celebrities; James constantly having his hand in his messy, jet black hair, and Sirius winking at certain girls he deemed attractive. It was no different today as they stepped into their Potions classroom as if it were a red carpet event.

"Potter! Black!" Professor Slughorn blubbered as the pair sat down. "Care to explain why the two of you are late?"

Sirius turned to look at James before haughtily replying, "No, I don't think we would."

Slughorn sighed and rubbed his temples before responding, "The two of you will see me after class."

James and Sirius groaned, but shrugged it off before asking Remus what they were supposed to be doing and got to work. A few Slytherins began sniggering at their misfortune, but Sirius turned, a bright smile claiming his handsome features.

"Oi, don't act like that," he said. "We all know that you're all just jealous because we Gryffindors are so much better looking."

"At least our looks aren't the only things going for us Slytherins," interjected Severus Snape, a particularly greasy-haired boy that was a frequent target for James and Sirius.

James made a face at him before retorting, "Nobody asked you, Snivellus. You only say that because you're so repulsive."

Remus whipped around and glared warningly at his friends. "You had all best stop talking before the two of you get detention. Merlin knows you two can't afford any more of those on your records."

"Relax, ickle Remus," said Sirius coolly. "It's not like we'd go anyway."

Remus released a defeated sigh before returning to his work with Peter, who seemed to be struggling with the directions. At about the same moment, a very attractive Gryffindor girl named Elizabeth came over to Remus, beaming at him.

"Hey, Remus," she greeted. "Lily and I were kind of confused by this direction here." She pointed with her index finger.

James raised his eyebrows at Sirius, who returned the quizzical look. Then both boys watched the situation with interest. Elizabeth was constantly grinning while Remus clarified what exactly she was supposed to do. She nodded, but the pair behind them couldn't help but notice that her eyes were usually rested on the boy speaking than on the book he was trying to explain. When she finally left, they watched her return to her seat next to Lily, who looked rather irritable. Remus went to face Peter again, but Sirius tapped him insistently on the shoulder with his wand.

"What?" demanded Remus, quite tired of being interrupted.

"You know Elizabeth?!" Sirius whispered urgently.

"You don't?" Remus retorted. "She's been in our house for all six years of school, you know."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know her like that, but she was really into you!"

Now it was Remus's turn to roll his eyes. "Please, Sirius, that's absolutely ridiculous."

"You didn't see her, ickle Remus," James put in. "She definitely likes her some Lupin." Sirius nodded in agreement.

"You're both barking," insisted Remus. "Now get back to work."

"Okay, we'll let it go for now, but we are talking to you after class, young man," joked James.

"No, you're talking to Professor Slughorn after class," Remus returned, now very exasperated with his friends.

"You never let us do anything fun," complained Sirius.

"I'm a _prefect_!" Remus cried. "How would it look if I let you two leave without speaking to him about your frequent tardiness?!"

"Oh, I dunno…"James trailed off. "Maybe like you actually like us."

"Which I never said I did," Remus said coldly before finally returning to his work.

James and Sirius feigned insult before laughing and they too resumed their work.


	2. Chapter 2

The talk with Slughorn didn't last long, but James and Sirius still felt it was a huge waste of time.

"He didn't even give us detention!" complained Sirius, waving the note he gave to the pair them, for they were late for their next class.

"I know," James replied. "So we're late for Transfiguration for nothing."

"God… I hate teachers, ya know?" Sirius continued, as they walked down the hall. "Warnings do absolutely nothing. It's like, you might as well tell a wall that if it continues to stay absolutely still and hard, you're going to tap it with a stick."

James snorted. "Exactly! Teachers are dumb."

Sirius chuckled. "We could just skive off Transfiguration today if you wanted."

"Nah, we're not that late. Plus, ickle Remus would be all over us if we did," James explained.

"I find it very interesting that we get more annoyed with ickle Remus' nagging than our own parents," Sirius observed, earning a lip curl from James.

"Yeah, or Mary, for you," James pointed out.

"Please, Mary is so in love with me. She doesn't nag me about anything," Sirius replied confidently. "Naggy girls don't get to date Sirius."

"That eliminates almost the entire female population. It'd be hard to find a girl that doesn't nag to date," James challenged.

"That's why I date only very rarely. The rest of them you just shag and bag," Sirius replied, laughing.

James laughed too. "That's new. Where did you come up with that?"

"Just now, in my head, mate!" Sirius cried. "I'm such a genius!"

"Whatever…" James trailed off as they stopped in front of their classroom door. "Ready to face McGonagall?"

"Ugh, murder me, James."

That night, in the common room, James saw Lily reading on the couch. He stared at her for quite some time before he decided he would "ask for help on his homework". He grabbed a random book, and glided over to her.

"Hey, Evans," he greeted, leaning over the back of the couch almost on to her shoulder. She ignored him. "C'mon Evans, please. I actually need your help this time."

She huffed and shut the book. "Fine," she said curtly. "What is it?"

"Well, it's this potions essay we've got to write on all the functions of aconite and I was wondering if you could at least point out to me where I could find it in this book?" he asked, swinging the book under her nose.

She swatted it away. "Potter, that's a question you can take to Remus. Leave me alone."

And she reopened her book.

"But- Evans, ickle Remus isn't as good at Potions as you are, and plus, I can't find him… Just, please?" She looked up at him, and a smirk danced across her lips when she saw his "please help me" smile. She closed the book once more, and took the book James handed her. He grinned widely ad jumped over the back of the couch to sit beside her.

"James, this is a Defense Against the Dark Arts book, you idiot!" she cried, but she was smiling.

"Oh…whoops…"

She shoved the book into his chest, and he let out an "oof!" as she rose. "Next time you need an excuse to talk to me, make sure all your props are right." And with that, she swept upstairs to her dormitory, leaving James with a very stupid-looking expression on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

While James was trying to butter Lily up, Sirius was with his current girlfriend, Mary. Mary was a striking girl of sixteen; she had short black hair that framed her face elegantly. Her eyes were big and so dark brown that they almost looked black. Her nose was small and perfectly round, and her lips were luscious and cherry colored. She parted her plump, red lips into a smile when she greeted her boyfriend.

"Hello, Sirius," she said, placing a kiss on his lips. "How was your day?"

"Great, love," he replied, smirking at her. "How was yours?"

"Great!" she told him. "And I have a question for you."

"Fire it off," he urged.

"Do you know if Remus is seeing anyone?" she asked.

"Why? Have you got a thing for hermits?" he teased.

She giggled girlishly. "No, silly. It's just that I've got a friend who's interested, and she wanted to know."

"Well, no, he isn't," he told her. "He's under the impression that all human females are of a different species."

"How do you mean?"

"Basically, he thinks that all girls are a bit above his pay grade," Sirius explained. "Not much self-confidence, that one."

"Oh, poor guy," she said.

"Now I have a question for you," Sirius brought up. "Is Lily ever going to lighten up on James? I thought that since she's not friends with Snivelly anymore, it'd be easier for him, but she's still acting completely horrible to him."

Mary shrugged her shoulders. "Personally, I think it's just because she doesn't want to admit that she really likes him. She told me this summer that she was actually really thankful that he comforted her after Severus said that horrible thing to her last year."

"Yeah…" Sirius trailed off. "So she does like him? It's just her pride that's holding her back?"

"Pretty much," answered Mary.

Sirius nodded and made a mental note to tell James to not give up on Lily just yet before saying to Mary, "Well, I've had enough of gossip. What do you say we sneak out to somewhere quiet for some snogging, eh?"

Again, Mary giggled before taking his hand and following him out of the portrait hole.

Later that night, Lily realized she had left her Charms book in the common room. Feeling a little awkward going down there so late, she tiptoed down the stairs. Upon reaching the final step, she noticed James had fallen asleep right where she had left him on the couch. Her Charms book lay on the table beside his feet. She figured she ought to wake him up and send him to bed, so she placed a hand on his leg, just above his knee, and gently shook him.

"Hey, James," she whispered. "James, wake up."

"Lily…" he murmured, his face turning toward her as his eyes fluttered half-open. "Hey…you look really beautiful in this light."

"Oh, shut your face," she said, smirking. "Come on, you should go to bed."

"I had a dream about you," he told her.

This took her aback slightly. "Did you?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I dreamt that we were lying in a bed, in a house of our own. Your head was on my chest, and I was running my fingers through your hair as I held you. We didn't say anything…we just lay there, holding each other. Nothing else even mattered."

Lily felt her face go scarlet and was thankful for the low light and his drowsiness. "James, do you even know what you're talking about? You really do need to sleep."

"There was one part of my dream that was completely true, though," he continued, ignoring her. "It was that nothing could be more special than just holding you in my arms. Y'know…I've always wondered what that would be like…"

Lily's emerald orbs darted to James's arms, taking notice of how muscular they were. Many hours of Quidditch training (and working out with Sirius over the summer, though she didn't know about that) had formed them and his broad chest and shoulders. For a brief moment, she too wondered what it would be like to be held in his strong arms, but she dismissed the thought quickly, knowing that as soon as he was in front of his friends, he would return to his usual smug self.

"Come on, James," she insisted. "If I have to tell you to go to bed one more time, I'm going to have to hurt you."

"Lily, why do you still hate me? I've been nothing but overly nice to you," he said, still ignoring her. "I feel like if I told that to any other girl, she'd be all over me."

"James, I don't hate you," she answered. "It's just that…I know that once you're around Black and everyone, you won't be this way. It's true, I'm a little flattered by this, but I just know that it's not going to last. Now, you really need to go to bed before this conversation carries on."

James heaved a sigh, stood up and stretched his long body. "Whatever you say, Evans."


	4. Chapter 4

The next weekend was a Hogsmeade trip. James had planned to ask Lily to go, for the millionth time, but he decided to lay off since their interesting conversation last night. He told Sirius about it as soon as he got upstairs and Sirius suggested that he could use this to his advantage because now he knew how to get her to like him. James, on the other hand, felt awkward about the whole thing. He wasn't going to ask her to go.

"James! Mate! You've been staring into space for at last three minutes. What's up?" Sirius' voice brought James out of his head, and James jerked away from the hand in his face.

"Sorry, I was just lost in thought, I guess," he explained.

"Were you thinking about Lily again? You should just ask her! I don't see the harm in it. All you have to do is make it sincere," Sirius continued.

"I've always been sincere!" James retorted.

"Shouting down the corridor 'Evans, you know you want to go out with me and Hogsmeade has plenty of places to snog in secret' is not really sincere," Sirius argued, smirking at his friend.

"That was one time!" protested James. "And she smacked me…"

"James, just ask her out privately. Tell her how much it would mean to you to go to Hogsmeade with her, and tell her 'no pressure. Let's just go as friends.' And then all you have to do is throw a please in there," Sirius said matter-of-factly.

"James, I'm afraid I must admit that Sirius has a point," interjected Remus suddenly. The other two were quite taken aback, for they hadn't even realized Remus was paying attention. "For once, don't act like an arrogant little berk about asking her out. Make yourself vulnerable for once. Besides, I would feel awkward if you went by yourself," he finished.

James was puzzled. "I could go with you," he said.

"I'm afraid you can't," Remus argued. "Elizabeth has asked me to go with her."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed James and Sirius in unison.

"What?" asked Remus, genuinely confused. "We're just going as friends."

"Oh, no you're not!" Sirius contended. "That's a date!"

"Ickle Remus, when a girl asks a guy to Hogsmeade, it's never just as friends. If a girl really wants to keep you in the 'friend zone' she wouldn't ask you to go to Hogsmeade, she would just ignore you," James explained.

"Oh, shut up, the pair of you. You don't know anything about Elizabeth. Besides, I don't even like her like that," Remus dissented.

"Why would you say yes then?" inquired Sirius.

"Because we're going _as friends_ ," Remus repeated.

"Ickle Remus, you obviously know nothing about women!" Sirius cried, exasperated.

"And you do?" Remus asked sarcastically.

"Yes I do!" Sirius retorted. "Now, ickle Remus, if you don't like her, you have to cancel."

"Or what?" Remus quizzed, giving his friend a skeptical look.

"Or may God have mercy on your soul."

James cracked up. Remus huffed at Sirius and returned to his book. Sirius sat down, deciding he would press the matter more later.


	5. Chapter 5

James decided to take his friends' advice, and as they were exiting Charms the following day he called to Lily who was ahead of him with Elizabeth and Mary. All three girls turned eyes on him. Mary and Elizabeth giggled as Lily responded to he who beckoned her.

"Yes, Potter?" she asked.

"Can I, uh…" he nervously glanced at her two friends. For some absurd reason, they intimidated him. "Could we speak in private?"

"Sure," she assured him. She motioned to her friends that she would catch up and then followed James around the corner. "What's up?"

"Listen, Lily," he began. "I would really like it if you would…uh…accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend. I know I ask you all the time, and it hasn't been like you wanted, so this time I wanted to ask you the way you deserve to be asked. So…I really mean it when I say, it would be an honor if you would allow me to…eh…escort you. Also, I don't want you to think there's any pressure…we'll just go as friends. It won't even be a date. So…what d'you say? Will you go with me?"

Her lips had been parting into a grin gradually as he continued to talk, and when he had stopped, she was beaming at him. "Oh, James!" she gasped and she dropped her books and threw her arms around his neck. "That's all I needed from you! Yes, I'll go with you!" She pulled away and gave him a stern look. "Now, was that really so hard?"

"Yes!" he cried "That was bloody terrifying! Can this one time count for all the future times I'll ask you?"

She playfully smacked him on the arm. "No! Now, don't ruin the moment."

He chuckled as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Although, I do feel sorta bad about this."

"Why's that?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Poor Peter doesn't have a date," James said, then he shrugged. "Oh, well. He hasn't spent a lot of time with us lately anyway."

"Oh, that's odd," Lily said. "Anyway, I've got to go catch up with Elizabeth and Mary. Merlin knows they'll want to hear about this!"

She placed a swift kiss on his cheek before she swept back around the corner and down the corridor. James was about to find Sirius and Remus to tell them the good news, when he was stopped by someone grabbing his arm. He jumped in fright and whipped around, shaking the person off. He realized it was Snape.

"Ew! Snivelly! You're gonna get your grease all over me!" James cried, revolted, wiping his sleeve as if it contained the plague.

"Shut up, Potter! I'm not talking to you just to get picked on!" Snape exclaimed.

"What could you possibly want from me, Snivellus?" James demanded impatiently.

"I'm here to tell you to be careful with Lily," Snape said.

James narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me, but what goes between me and Lily is none of your business."

"Look, Potter, I know how you are with girls-," Snape began.

"How _I_ am with girls?" James interrupted. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been chasing after just _one_ girl since first year! If you're going to preach a chivalry lesson, go talk to Sirius!"

"I'm just saying, if you break her heart-," he began again, but James cut him off again.

"Break her heart? Last time I checked, it was _you_ who broke her heart last year when you called her that foul name. It was _you_ who made her cry so much you couldn't see the green in her eyes. It was _you_ who destroyed your friendship with her, which you will never get back. You can't lecture me about sparing Lily's feelings, because you obviously don't care about them, so just cut the bravado and get out of my face!"

With that, James turned his heel and stormed off to find his friends, leaving Severus looking rather stupid. Little did the boys know that Lily had returned to ask James what time she should be ready, so she had heard every word of their argument. She was happy that James had defended himself, but she was now immensely puzzled as to why Severus was so concerned. James was right; Severus obviously didn't care…did he?

The next day in Potions, Lily decided to ask James for the time. She didn't tell him about overhearing his conversation with Severus, knowing that Severus was in the class and might eavesdrop. Lily also decided that it didn't matter. Severus didn't care, because if he did, he wouldn't have called her such an awful name. James must care, for he didn't even say it when she wasn't around. She realized that James really did have some respect for her, even if he didn't always show it. She was actually looking forward to going to Hogsmeade with him.

Once she got the time, he insisted she be his partner as he wasn't likely to get this potion right. She agreed, but only if he promised to stay focused. He swore he would, so the pair got to work, while Remus worked with Elizabeth, and Sirius worked with Mary. Peter, on the other hand had requested to drop Potions since he was just no good at it. McGonagall and Slughorn allowed it, both fully aware of the boy's lack of uses.

With Lily's expertise, they were able to complete the potion rather early. Afterwards, the pair sat quietly for several moments before Lily finally spoke.

"You know…it made me really happy," she said.

"What did?" he asked.

"The way you finally asked me to go to Hogsmeade properly," she explained. "It showed me that you actually are a good person…when you want to be."

"Geez, Lily, try not to flatter me too much," James joked. "Just curious, though, how did you not see that before? I mean, I wasn't all bad."

She raised an eyebrow. "You've got to be joking! All you ever did was strut about the school like a peacock, hexing anyone who got in your way, you picked on…" she trailed off, not sure what to call Severus now that he was no longer her friend.

"Okay, I get it, I get it," James broke in, sensing Lily's dilemma. "But I'm nice to people like Peter. That had to count for something, right?"

She merely gave him a disbelieving stare.

"Okay, I guess not," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. "Well, I'm just glad that now you know I'm not the complete toe rag – as you so eloquently put it – that you always thought I was."

She smiled at him. "Yeah…me too."

Finally, the Hogsmeade day arrived. The guys – meaning Remus, James, and Sirius – were waiting for the girls by the portrait hole, all three dressed and ready to go. Mary was the first to be ready, so she and Sirius, hand in hand, departed. Elizabeth came down next, took Remus's arm, and they crawled out the hole. After what felt like years, Lily came down, and she was still messing with her sweater. She looked up and flashed James a radiant smile before striding swiftly over to him.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," he returned. He had a brutal urge to kiss her right on the mouth, but he resisted. He would have to go slow with Lily. He had waited a long time for this, he couldn't mess it up now.

"Are we going to head out or are you just going to stare?" she teased, elbowing him.

"Well, I was just going to stare, but if you want to go, that's fine," he returned, smirking at her. He took her hand and led her out of the portrait hole and into the corridor.

As they walked through the school, out to the grounds, and towards Hogsmeade village, they chatted about school, how their classes were going (they didn't have all the same classes this year, since they could only take what they qualified for at the N.E.W.T. level), and other such matters. It was actually pleasant for the two of them.

As they entered the Three Broomsticks (and James got them some Butterbeer) and sat down, they got to talking about Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Yeah, I saw your Patronus the other day," he said. "A doe. It was brilliant work."

"Thanks!" she replied. "What's your Patronus, by the way?"

"A stag," he told her. "Oh, and yours is a doe!" he gasped. "Guess we're just meant to be."

She giggled as she took a swig of her Butterbeer.

Meanwhile, Sirius and Mary were headed over to Honeydukes, when they passed by the Three Broomsticks and there was a strange sight by the window. Severus Snape was looking in, evidently trying (and failing) to remain unseen by the customers inside.

"Mary, hold on a second," Sirius addressed his girlfriend, who had kept walking without noticing her boyfriend falling behind. She jogged to join him.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Looks like Snivelly's trying his hand at spying," he told her, glaring at Severus.

"What can we do about it?" she wondered.

"Well, there's a whole lot I'll do about it," he answered. "I'm not about to just sit here and let him spy on my best mate when he's on his first date with the girl of his dreams." He turned to Severus. "Oi, Snivellus! Careful not to get your nose on the window! Madam Rosmerta will have to spend weeks trying to clean that mess up!"

"Shove off, Black, this is none of your business," Snape replied, rolling his eyes.

Sirius approached Severus, grabbed the Slytherin by the collar, and yanked him to the ground. Snape's head hit the street, and he began grumbling about a bump that would soon form there. Sirius loomed over his opponent.

"You know what's none of _your_ business," Sirius said, getting into Snape's face. "James's first date with Lily. You had your chance with her, and you blew it. You need to back the hell off before I punch you in your beak!"

"Sirius, let's just go!" Mary exclaimed. "He's going to do what he wants regardless of what you say! Just leave him alone!"

Before anyone could say another word, Lily and James emerged from the Three Broomsticks.


	6. Chapter 6

"What's going on here?" asked Lily, her brows furrowing at the scene before her. She turned to James. "Did you know something about this?"

"No, I swear," he explained, not missing a beat. "I have no idea what's happening. Sirius?"

Sirius shoved his knee into the boy on the ground (eliciting an "oof!" from Snape) as he spat, "Snivelly here was trying to peep in on your date."

"Prove it," snapped Snape, holding his sides from Sirius' jab to his ribcage.

"Please, you know exactly what you were doing. Don't try and play the innocent card now," Sirius returned venomously.

"It's none of your business how I spend my time here, Black," Snape continued, equally as venomous and now rising from his spot on the ground, brushing some leaves off his oversized coat.

"And I told you, it's none of your business how James and Lily's date is going. So I'll tell you again. Back. The. Hell. Off." Sirius looked very intimidating and was much bigger than Snape. Lily saw where this was headed.

"Sirius. Enough," she interrupted. "Severus, I don't know what you were doing, and in all honesty, I really don't care. But I will care if I ever see you hovering around me and James again. And I will care if I see you starting another row with one of my friends. Trust me, I will be your worst nightmare if you keep this creepy behavior up. However, I can let you off with warning for now. Don't let me see that greasy head of yours anywhere near me. _Ever._ Get lost, _Snivellus_."

There was a very quiet moment before Snape walked away. The four Gryffindors continued to stand there, three of them very thunderstruck by their red-haired friend. Sirius, James, and Mary all wore expressions of wide-eyes and dropped jaws.

"Lily! That was amazing!" whooped James.

"Wow…" Mary trailed off. "He'll never show his face to you again."

"Who knew little-miss-prefect could kick some ass?" Sirius teased.

"Oh please," Lily retorted. "I kicked yours and James' asses so many times. You knew I had that in me."

Sirius laughed. "'Kay, maybe I did, but I didn't think you'd ever pull that on Snivelly."

"Well, I'm sick of him!" Lily cried, wrinkling her nose in frustration (in the most adorable way, according to James). "It's like he doesn't understand that I never want to see him again." There was a moment of silence before Lily grinned at James and said, "C'mon, James. It's beautiful out, and I'm expecting a lot more from this date."

James chuckled. "Yes ma'am." And with that, the pair continued walking down the lane hand-in-hand.

Sirius smiled, very pleased with the way things were turning out for James. "I'm really happy they're getting together," he told Mary.

"Yeah, me too," she agreed.

James, Lily, Sirius, and Mary all returned to the common room together. When they entered the portrait-hole, they were met by Remus, who was sitting by the fire alone.

"Hey, ickle Remus!" called Sirius. "What's up? Where's Elizabeth?"

"Oh, nothing," replied Remus quickly. "She's upstairs, I suppose." This made the other four eye each other skeptically.

"You suppose?" asked James. "Did something happen while at Hogsmeade?"

"No!" Remus almost shrieked. He coughed a little before continuing, as if he were regaining his composure. "Nothing happened," he said firmly.

"I'm going upstairs," Mary announced. She swiftly kissed Sirius on the cheek, and swept upstairs.

"I, um, better go too," Lily told James a little awkwardly, for she wasn't really sure where to go from here. "Um…" she trailed off, then wrapped her arms around his neck for a hug. He returned it with a smile. She pulled away first, but he pulled her back for just a couple seconds. She was surprised, but pleasantly so, and she squeezed him tight. Finally, she followed Mary upstairs.

"What happened, mate?" James asked, taking off his jacket and sitting down.

Remus sighed and brought a hand to his forehead as if he were exhausted. "She kissed me," he admitted.

"Wow! That's great!" Sirius cheered. "Now we all have girlfriends!"

"No! No! Not great!" Remus argued. "She can't be my girlfriend!"

"And let the record show, that Lily is not my girlfriend…yet," James included, beaming.

"Shut up, James," Sirius joked.

"Both of you shut up!" Remus bellowed. "I dodged her kiss…" he confessed quietly.

Sirius and James leapt from their seats. "What? Why?" they interrogated in unison.

"Because!" Remus barked at his friends. "First off, I honestly don't like her like that. And-"

"How do you mean you 'dodged' her kiss?" Sirius cut him off.

Remus huffed. "She leaned in, and I leaned back, and she got me here," he explained and pointed to the bottom left of his chin.

"I can't believe you did that!" Sirius cried, exasperated. "Elizabeth is one the hottest girls at this school and you're turning her down. I'd give anything to shag her…"

"Oh me too," James agreed. "I wish a girl that hot would come onto me…"

"Oh, I feel so sorry for the two of you! You have such problems!" Remus roared.

"Okay, okay, sorry, ickle Remus," Sirius apologized and returned his attention to the problem at hand. "Why not just go out with her? I mean, you're sixteen. You're allowed to have flings."

"Normal sixteen year olds can have flings," Remus protested. "I can't."

"Why?" asked James, baffled.

"No one with my condition should be dating," Remus said, and he suddenly became very interested in the fringes on the blanket across the back of the sofa. "No one really knows how someone like me would handle a 'mate'. And I could put her in serious danger."

"Ickle Remus, please!" Sirius argued. "Everyone, even people with your 'furry little problem', needs love in their lives. And they deserve it too. You can't throw something away because you have a flaw. You know we would never let a girlfriend of yours get hurt." He placed a hand on Remus' shoulder.

"You don't have to be lonely, mate," James added. "You deserve to be happy just as much the next guy. You're being an idiot, to put it bluntly."

"You guys don't understand. You wouldn't have to live with the guilt if something ever did happen. Look, can we please just drop it?" Remus pressed. "I don't like her that way anyway."

"Fine," they agreed.


	7. Chapter 7

The next week was rather eventful for these sixth year Gryffindors. Every time Elizabeth saw Remus in the corridors or in the common room, she would make a point to either ignore him, or glare harshly at him. Poor Remus was feeling worse and worse about the whole thing has time went on, and eventually he was downright blue. James and Sirius began to get worried for their friend. They decided to address it at dinner.

"Just go and apologize to her, mate," Sirius suggested. "I'm sure if you're really sweet about it, she'll let it go."

"I already tried apologizing," Remus sighed. "I tried several times. She doesn't want anything to do with me. She even threw her Transfiguration book at me last time I tried to talk to her."

"Are you serious?!" gasped James.

"No, _I'm_ Sirius," Sirius chimed in, a stupid looking grin on his face. Peter laughed, but the other two just started at him.

"Really?" asked James. "You're really going to do this now?"

"Alright, alright, don't get your wand in a knot," Sirius replied innocently. "I was just trying to lighten the mood a little."

James opened his mouth to retort, but a distraction appeared in the form of Lily. She sported a brilliant smile as she approached and greeted them and sat beside James.

"Hello, lovely," he said with a smirk.

"Hey, Lily, aren't you mad at ickle Remus too?" asked Sirius. "I thought girls always had to hate people that their friends hate. It's like girl code or something."

"Why should I be mad at Remus?" Lily returned. "He didn't do anything wrong, in my opinion. If he doesn't like Elizabeth, then he shouldn't have kissed her."

"Well…" began Sirius. "He did kind of – oh, look! There's Mary! Must go!" With that, he leapt from the table and strutted toward his awaiting girlfriend.

Remus checked his watch. "I've got to run as well. I promised Peter I'd help him with his Charms essay. Oh, and James don't forget that Friday night is – " He stopped talking abruptly and glanced at Lily. "We'll talk later in the common room, yes?"

"Aye, captain," replied James, offering his friend a salute, at which Remus rolled his eyes.

Remus's departure left Lily and James quite alone, however, neither of them seemed to care. In fact, they carried on talking like bosom friends. Lily chatted animatedly about her classes, letters she had gotten from home, and her girlfriends. James would listen intently – and throw in a snarky comment here and there. He tried to refrain from doing that, though because he wanted to keep her talking. He enjoyed watching her; the way she moved (especially when she talked with her hands), the way she constantly had to toss her long, deep red hair behind her, the way her emerald eyes lit up when she told a story, and the way her pretty pink lips moved when she talked. To him, all of his was mesmerizing. He was etching it forever into his memory. Even more than that, it was that all of those things were part of a girl who was incredibly intelligent, sharp witted (and had quite a sharp tongue when she had the mind to), immensely imaginative, and so unbelievably fierce. She was everything he ever wanted, and even more. He just wished he could find a way to let her know.

Her talking was interrupted by a great yawn. She covered her mouth, and politely apologized, but he insisted she not worry about it.

"Hey, if you're tired, why don't we head up to the tower for the night, eh?" he suggested.  
"That sounds like a great idea," Lily agreed, another sizeable yawn claiming her petite face.

He offered his arm to her, which she took, and the two left the Great Hall.

"So, is Elizabeth really that mad at ickle Remus?" he asked as they strolled down the corridor toward Gryffindor tower. "Because he feels really dreadful about the whole thing."

Lily shrugged her shoulders. "For now, but she'll get over it soon enough. You know how she is. She'll find someone new in no time."

"I knew that, I was just wondering if she's going to want to murder him for these last two years that we're here," James said.

Lily laughed. "No, I don't think she'll do that. Eventually, Remus will just be some guy in our house. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Well, that's comforting, I suppose," replied James, and the pair continued their walk in comfortable silence.

They finally reached the portrait of the fat lady, James gave the password, and she swung open for them. The couple crawled through the portrait hole, and entered the common room. Lily was tired, so James walked her right to the stairs of the girl's dormitory. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before climbing the stairs. He watched her go until he could no longer see her. Once she had disappeared, he hurtled up to his dormitory to find Sirius, Remus, and Peter all reclining on their beds. James was inwardly thankful that Frank Longbottom hadn't come up yet, because he just needed to talk with his Marauders.

"Hey, Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot," he addressed them by their nicknames, and they all laid eyes on him. "I think we should let Lily in on our secret."


	8. Chapter 8

The three stared at him incredulously. "You're mad," Sirius observed, his voice whisper-esque.

"I'm not mad," protested James, crawling onto his bed excitedly. "Just hear me out," he begged.

"Fine, shoot," Sirius agreed.

"The way I see it is: Lily is trustworthy, responsible, and loyal. She'd never tell our secret, even if she was mad at us. Plus, she's practically a marauder herself. I don't like keeping things from her. I think it'd be almost like an 'initiation' thing. It'd show her that she's one of us now, and that we trust her completely. It'd mean a lot to her… and me," James finished, looking at each of their shocked faces respectively.

"James-"

"No," Remus interrupted Sirius. "Absolutely not," he said firmly, rising from his bed and put his book down on his trunk.

James' face fell. "But- why?" he asked. "Ickle Remus, our secret is safe with-"

"James, would you quit referring to it as 'our' secret?" Remus yelled, rounding on James. "It's not 'our' secret! It's _my_ secret! And it's _my_ decision of who knows about it or not! I will NOT let you tell my secret to someone who's hated you for five years! You can't just give away something like this simply because the girl you've been hopelessly in love with for six years suddenly starts paying attention to you! She's NOT your girlfriend, James! And she is NOT one of us! She will NEVER know my secret! And if you EVER even MENTION this again, Merlin knows what I'll do to you!"

The other three Marauders were silent, and their jaws were dropped. James stared at Remus as he started changing into his pajamas. Finally, he composed himself. "Um, right… I left something downstairs, I'll be right back," he lied, breaking the awkward silence. He swept from the dormitory, robes disappearing behind him.

Peter, not able to stand the atmosphere in the room, also left. Sirius went to Remus' bed and wouldn't let Remus close his bed curtains. "What the _hell_ was that about?" Sirius demanded.

"Nothing," Remus replied extremely curtly, glaring at Sirius.

"That was not nothing," Sirius narrowed his eyes, challenging him. "Explain yourself. I'm not leaving you alone until you do."

Remus sighed, knowing he really would. "I just don't want Lily around me when I'm… like that," he admitted. "It's embarrassing enough."

Sirius' face softened. "C'mon mate, this is Lily we're talking about. Out of everyone in the entire school, you should know that she would never judge you," he said, comfortingly.

"Don't tell James, please," Remus started. "But out of everyone in this school, Lily's opinion is one that I care about the most."

Suddenly, Sirius understood. He nodded and let Remus shut the curtains. He crawled into bed himself, knowing that this would be the one thing he would never tell James.


	9. Chapter 9

It was Friday night, and Lily was heading back to Gryffindor tower when she overheard some people talking round the corner. One voice, she recognized as Severus's. She stopped walking so she could overhear whatever they were saying.

"…I'm sure of it," Snape said evidently finishing a sentence. "I think tonight should be the night we catch Potter and his gang! With this knowledge, we could blackmail them into anything! All we would have to do is threaten to turn them over to Dumbledore!"

Lily's eyebrows furrowed, and a series of questions went through her mind: What in the world was Snape talking about? What was he planning on "catching" James and his friends at? How could it be so bad that Snape would have the power to blackmail them? Was he bluffing? If he wasn't, why hadn't James told her? Surely, he could trust her with a secret of his!

"You're sure it's Lupin that's the werewolf?" asked a fellow Slytherin.

Lily covered her moth to suppress her sharp intake of breath. Remus?! A werewolf?! It couldn't be! He was so friendly! Surely, Dumbledore wouldn't allow a werewolf around other students! Did Dumbledore even know? He mustn't know! He couldn't know!

In her mind, she was stamping her foot, but she pulled herself together to listen some more. Snape spoke. "I'm positive. He always misses class right after the full moon. Also around that time, he's paler, and new scars appear on him! It's got to be him! Potter and Black are trying to cover it up, but I got it out of the fourth one, Pettigrew."

"I don't know how that little rat ever got into Gryffindor," sniggered a third voice. "He's a gutless git, that one."

The other Slytherins expressed their agreement with laughter.

"Right," Snape chortled. "Now, meet me by the Whomping Willow…."

Lily stopped listening, as she had to battle a vicious impulse to march around the corner and teach every last one of them a hard lesson with her surprisingly impressive Bat Bogey Hex. She knew, however, that there were more important matters at hand. She had to warn James that Snape and the Slytherins were trying to prove this ridiculous assumption. She knew that it was even more vital if it was, in fact, true.

Lily turned to go the long way to the Gryffindor tower, since Snape and his friends would see her if she continued her normal route. She tore through the corridors, her urgent message in the front of her mind. Then a sudden thought from somewhere in the back of her brain hit her. _What if James isn't in the common room? What if he's on the grounds and Snape and the others beat me there?_ This thought scared her a little, so she halted. Then she went a different direction; she was headed for the Whomping Willow tree, and she was determined to get there before the Slytherins.

It was already dark outside as Lily went out the large oak front doors of the school. She wished that she had brought her jacket, since there was a cold breeze in the air. She shivered a little, but quickly dismissed the thought of the cold. She had to get to the Whomping Willow and stop whatever the Slytherins were planning. She started out walking, but as she grew more and more uneasy she broke into a steady jog. She would trip occasionally, since the only light came from the full moon that hung in the sky. Somewhere in the distance, she thought she heard a mournful howl.

After some time, she finally reached the tree. It loomed high above, not yet aware of her presence. That was when it struck her that she had no idea what to do now that she was here. There was no sign of the Slytherins, which was a relief, but they could be hiding out in the woods waiting for James and his friends. She decided to watch from the forest so that she wouldn't be seen in case anyone did decide to show up. She stepped backward onto something soft and squashy. Alarmed that it might be an animal, she yanked her foot up, and whipped around to see what it was.

It was no animal. It was stranger than that. It was some sort of cloak. She bent down and picked it up and brushed the dirt off. It was rather beautiful; a dark emerald color, and it shimmered when it moved in the moonlight. It smelled like…James. His scent that she had come to know after being his friend for a while now, radiated off the cloak, and it was actually still warm. Obviously he had been wearing it only minutes ago, and had discarded it for some reason. She debated whether or not she should wear it. Deciding that James would have wrapped it around her if he were present, she did just that, and drank in his aroma.

The effect surprised her more than she had been all night. Her entire body, from her shoulders down, had disappeared! James owned an invisibility cloak?! Since when?! She resolved that this would actually be convenient, so she put the cloak over her head, knowing that she was now completely invisible. She slunk back into the forest, sat down on the forest floor and waited for something to happen.

It didn't take long. Before ten minutes had gone by, the Slytherins had arrived, and they were continually looking over their shoulders to assure themselves that they were not being followed. Lily felt extraordinarily cool knowing that she was unable to be seen. She felt a giggle rise, but she silenced it, unwilling to give up her position. Carefully, she began listening to the conversation once again.

"Okay, Severus, we're at the bloody tree," one Slytherin pointed out irritably. It was most likely from the cold night air. "What do we do now?"

"I've seen them go inside the tree," Snape said. "I think they immobilize it or something, since it attacks if you get too close."

Lily paid close attention. What in the world could be inside a tree? She continued watching. One of the Slytherins shouted " _Immobulous_!" as they approached the tree. It barely twitched before it was unable to move because of the spell.

Lily watched as the Slytherins moved toward the tree and disappeared at the roots. Knowing now how to get in, she moved while the tree was still frozen. Keeping the cloak on so that she could jinx the Slytherins before they reached James, she dove at the tiny passage that was open at the base of the tree. She was following them in, and she was going to stop them if it was the last thing she ever did!


	10. Chapter 10

It was probably the creepiest place Lily had ever been. She was crouched over, and it was beginning to get hard to keep the cloak on. However, she pushed through the fear and discomfort and continued down the passageway, wand in front of her.

She could hear the Slytherins, but she couldn't see them. It was too dark, and they were ahead of her, but not by too much. She felt the tunnel going upwards, and breathed a slight sigh of relief. It had to be coming to end. Finally, after what seemed like hours to her, she reached a door, pushed it open, and realized she was in an abandoned house. She looked around and it suddenly it hit her: she was in the Shrieking Shack. She almost let out a gasp, when she heard voices coming from the stairs. It was the Slytherins, and she followed them.

She stepped on the first step, and it creaked loudly, causing all the Slytherins in front of her to whip around. "Crap," she thought.

"What was that?" one of them cried obviously frightened.

She cracked an evil grin. "Oh yeah, I'm invisible," she inwardly told herself. She could totally use this to advantage. She leaned all her weight on her left leg, causing the stair to creak again. She then leaned on her right leg. The Slytherins got a little twitchy and their necks were swiveling from side to side, trying to find the source of the noise. She took a little pleasure in noticing that Snape was very pale-faced and wide-eyed. She looked down at her wand and got another brilliant idea. She touched her throat with the tip of her wand, making her voice very low and raspy. She started moaning and groaning like she was in deep pain. She channeled the time she sprained her wrist after falling off the swings when she was nine. It was very effective. The Slytherins began scrambling around and grabbing each other, terrified. One of them, not able to take the pressure, took off at top speed, past Lily, and ran back down the tunnel. The rest of them followed, Snape the last to disappear into the passage.

Lily snickered. "I'm such a genius," she whispered to herself, and had a very brutal urge to throw her hair behind her shoulder. She refrained from doing so, however, because she still didn't want anyone to see her. Still she laughed, and made a mental note, that when she was telling this story to James, they peed themselves.

Lily continued up the stairs. She wanted to know if what Snape said was true. Out of nowhere came a howl, then a growl, and a harsh bark. This made her jump and squeak in fright. She was frozen for a bit, but kept going after a couple deep breaths.

When she reached the top of the staircase, she saw a bedroom door. From inside, she could hear hooves, snarling, claws scratching the floor, sniffing, and the almost inaudible squeaking of a rat. She held her breath as she pushed the door open.

The scene that met her eyes froze her to her core. There was a werewolf in the room she was standing in, and it was now looking straight at her. She couldn't think about anything but the sharp teeth in the mouth snarling at her. She knew it was looking at her, even though she was invisible. Its nose was twitching wildly, so it could smell her. It roared in her general direction, and the force of it knocked the cloak off, but she did not retrieve it. She was, quite literally, frozen with fear. She couldn't even breathe. Suddenly, it charged.

As her eyes widened and she let out a blood-curdling scream, the biggest, black dog she had ever seen leapt in between her and the werewolf.


	11. Chapter 11

The black dog snarled at the werewolf as it guarded Lily, who had stopped screaming and was now watching the scene before her with stunned interest. The werewolf did not stop when it saw the dog, but swung its massive paw out in an attempt to swipe it away. The dog did not flinch but clamped its teeth around the werewolf's wrist. The wolf howled in pain and tried to shake the dog, and the two canines got into a vicious fight.

Once the dog was no longer in front of her, Lily felt extremely vulnerable. That feeling didn't last long, though. Seemingly out of nowhere, a stag approached her and looked deeply into her eyes. It had beautiful hazel eyes; eyes that were strangely familiar to her, but she couldn't think where she had seen them before. In her situation, she was finding it very hard to think at all.

The stag stood in front of her like a sentry; unmoving, and ever watchful of the goings-on around them. The dog and werewolf were locked in fierce combat. The werewolf finally managed to get a mighty swipe of his paw in and the poor dog was thrust across the room with the force of it.

The werewolf then turned eyes on Lily and the stag. It let out a frustrated growl, realizing that it would have to face another obstacle before reaching its prey. The stag lowered its head, brandishing its antlers and scraped its hoof on the ground defensively. The werewolf then charged, but just as it was about to take a bite out of the stag, the dog had arisen and tackled the werewolf from its flank. The wolf barked as it was taken to the ground, and twisted around to try and attack the dog. The dog raked its claws down the wolf's front, and the wolf roared in pain. The dog raised its paw for a blow to the face, but the werewolf was quicker. It raised its paw toward the dog's front left leg and gripped it hard. Lily heard a loud _CRACK_ and squeezed her eyes shut as the dog yelped and screamed in pain. The werewolf pushed the crippled dog off of it, and started for the stag again.

The stag braced itself once more for the werewolf to come. It lowered its head again, and this time ran at it. The stag got the wolf between its antlers and pinned it to the opposite wall. The wolf clawed at the stag's back, struggling, but the stag was holding its ground.

Lily, deciding she could no longer be useless, forced herself to run to the dog. She approached it warily, knowing that injured animals were a little touchy. She knelt down beside it, and was surprised when it offered her its injured leg. She touched it tenderly, and it whined in protest, so she got out her wand and pointed it at the dog's bleeding leg. She noticed her hand was shaking violently.

" _Episky!_ " she said once she steadied her hand, but her voice was shaking now. She was unsure as to why she felt weepy, but she choked the feeling back.

The dog gave her a look of gratitude, and she smiled at it before it rushed to the aid of the stag. Lily wondered for a moment if she should do something as well. She had a wand, after all. She could curse the werewolf, but she found herself not wanting to hurt it. She had a feeling she knew who it was. She prayed she was wrong.

She watched the fight some more. It was really ferocious. Fur was literally flying. Before she knew it, the werewolf had gotten free of the dog and stag, and was now rushing toward her. She refused to be scared stiff this time, so she bolted across the room and dove under the bed. She noticed absurdly how dusty the place was, and thought it could really use a woman's touch. She then scolded herself and focused. Her eyes were flickering every which way, knowing the werewolf would try and reach under and smack her out from under there.

She felt a slight burn in her right leg and then hot stickiness run down it. Trembling, she looked to see the werewolf's paw resting on her leg, its claws already drawing blood. She tried to jerk her leg away, but was too late. She shrieked in pain as the wolf's claws tore through her flesh, and her leg exploded with pain. It then proceeded to drag her out from under the bed and leer at her, showing teeth that might as well have been daggers. She promptly raised her foot and sank it as hard as she could into the wolf's nose. It released her leg, but she knew she was going to be slower. She raised her wand at the werewolf, now clutching its surely broken nose, and stunned it. She felt bad, knowing she had hurt it, but she scrambled away while she could.

The stag and dog seemed to take this as their opportunity. The dog leapt onto the werewolf's back, lowering the wolf's head down. The stag pawed the ground, hopped gracefully over Lily and brutally head butted the werewolf, knocking it out cold.

The stag then trotted over to Lily and helped her to her feet. She looked deeply into its oddly familiar hazel eyes. As they held each other's gaze, Lily finally recognized the eyes. A single voice went through her head: _A stag. Oh! And yours is a doe! Guess we're just meant to be._

Lily's lips curled gently upward into a smile as realized who the animals were.

"James…" she whispered happily. Once again, she didn't know why, but she felt a lump forming in throat, only this time, she allowed tears to stream down her cheeks. It was likely some concoction of relief, fear, shock, and sheer joy that she was still alive; it didn't matter. She cried.

James (still in his stag form) gestured for her to climb atop his back. She glanced at the still knocked out werewolf, who was slowly turning back to his original form. It was as Lily feared: the werewolf was Remus. She was saddened by this, knowing Remus didn't deserve this curse.

She didn't have much time to feel sorry for him before the dog (who she guessed was Sirius) practically shoved her onto James's back. Then Sirius padded over to Remus and somehow managed to get him onto his back. Then a rat (who she guessed was Peter) came over to them and joined Remus on Sirius's back.

James and Sirius carried their friends all the way back to the castle. Once they got to the large oak front doors, Lily slipped off of James, and Sirius gently put Remus and Peter down. Lily was finding it difficult to stand on her bad leg, but refused to fall. James, Sirius, and Peter transformed back into their usual selves. James hurried to Lily, who put her arms around his neck and he scooped her up bridal style and brought her inside. Sirius and Peter were supporting Remus across their shoulders.

As they walked in, the sky was getting a little lighter, but the sun was not yet visible. Dawn was approaching. They all were thankful that they didn't have class that day as they headed to the hospital wing. Lily felt suddenly cold and snuggled closer to James who gave her a gentle squeeze in return. They went through the halls in comfortable silence.

They finally reached the hospital wing where Madame Pomfrey was waiting for them. James set Lily down on a bed, and Remus was laid in a bed next to hers. Lily got a real look at how hurt he was from his fight, and she felt a pang of sympathy for him. He had blood all over him, his clothes were torn, and his face seemed to have aged so much in just one night.

"Are you okay?" asked James, his voice ripping her back into reality.

"Yeah," she assured him. "Is Remus going to be?"

James nodded.

She looked at Sirius. "How's your arm?"

"Fine," he said, showing it to her. "Thanks for that."

"No problem," she replied. Then she looked very seriously at the three boys before her. "Now, you all have a lot of explaining to do."


	12. Chapter 12

"We could say the same for you," Sirius retorted.

"I was just following Sev," Lily explained. "I overheard him talking to his friends and they were planning to follow you guys out there, but I found your cloak, James, and I scared them, so they ran away…and then…yeah…" she trailed off. "Your turn."

"Well, it's pretty self-explanatory," James began. "We found out about ickle Remus' 'furry little problem' pretty early on. So, we made ourselves Animagi so we could keep an eye on him every month."

It was now that Lily realized how good of friends these four boys were. They were so brave, and she smiled at James, because now she knew how fiercely loyal and brave he was. She couldn't help but feel an incredible amount of respect for him, and Sirius and Peter.

"That's really amazing of you," Lily told them. "I dunno if I could ever do that…"

"Of course you could!" James encouraged her. "You should have seen yourself tonight! You were so brave," he praised. She felt herself go a little pink in her cheeks.

"Thanks," she said, not meeting his gaze.

"Listen, Lily," Sirius interjected. "You can't tell anyone about this. If anyone else knew, the parents would freak, and ickle Remus might get kicked out of school. He'll already be furious that you found out," he explained.

"Of course not," Lily assured him quickly. "I won't tell anyone. But why should he care that I know? He knows I would never say anything," she inquired.

Sirius knew the answer, but he could never tell Lily. "He's just really embarrassed about it, I suppose," he lied. James then struck up another conversation with her, leaving Sirius to tend to Remus.

The next day, James and Sirius went to visit Remus in the hospital wing. None of the others even had to stay overnight, so they were lucky. However, they were not so lucky, because now they had to tell Remus what happened. Both of them were dreading it, and they were arguing over who had to do it as the entered the wing. When they saw Remus was awake, they immediately shut up.

"Hey," he greeted, smiling at them. He looked alright, to say the least. He looked ten times worse last night, but he didn't look like his usual self either.

"How are you?" Sirius asked, taking a seat at the end of the bed.

"Oh, the same as ever," Remus told him, sighing. "It's weird though, my nose really hurts, which has never happened before. What happened last night?"

"James would love to tell you!" Sirius exclaimed, almost too quickly, causing James to glare at him and Remus look at them curiously.

"Listen, mate," James started, not really knowing how to tell him. "Promise you won't get mad?"

Remus narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You know, when you say that, it indicates that what you're about to tell me will, in fact, make me mad. Especially coming from you two. So, I really don't think I can make that promise, James," he replied, smartly as always.

James let out the breath he was holding in. "Damn… Well, okay, here goes." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Lilyfoundoutaboutyoulastnight," he said extraordinarily quickly, and flinching as he awaited Remus' reaction.

There was a long pause before Remus asked, "Sorry, what?"

"Um, Lily found out about you last night," James repeated, more slowly this time.

There was, once again, a long pause, but this time, Remus looked away from James and stared at his sheets. The silence was almost too much to bear. James and Sirius both were on the verge of perspiration, and James wanted to scream just to end it.

"So what happened to my nose?" Remus asked again, still not looking at either one of them.

James felt his muscles release their tension. "Sirius would love to tell you!" he shouted. Now it was Sirius' turn to glare.

"You grabbed her leg, mate, and she kicked you in the snout," Sirius told him gently. "We're so sorry, ickle Remus, but she-"

"Get out," Remus said suddenly.

"What?" James asked, with an accompanying titter.

"I said get out. Both of you," Remus reiterated, now taking his eyes off his sheets and looking at them. "Please don't come back tomorrow. I don't want to see you." And with that he took a book from his bedside table, and began reading.

"Ickle Remus, you can't be serious," Sirius laughed a little, honestly not believing his ears. Remus was silent.

"Ickle Remus, we didn't do it on purpose," James pressed. "She said she was following Snivelly, and she just, came across us. Please…"

Remus continued reading as if he couldn't hear a word they said. After a moment, James laughed again at how unbelievable Remus was being.

Sirius looked at the ground, and he finally spoke after what seemed like hours. "C'mon, James, he's not joking. Let's go." And he walked out of the hospital wing, James following slowly behind.


	13. Chapter 13

The next day, Lily decided to go visit Remus in the hospital wing. She hadn't seen James or Sirius since their whole incident, but she figured they would probably be with Remus already. She dropped off her books in the common room and headed down to Madame Pomfrey's ward.

When she arrived, Remus was the only one there, and he was reading a Transfiguration textbook that rested on his lap. He didn't notice her come in, so she wasn't offended when he didn't greet her. She merely swept up to his bed and took a seat in the chair beside it.

"Hiya," she said cheerfully, causing him to jump and stare, wide-eyed at her. "How are you feeling?"

He closed his book and set it down on the bedside table before answering. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" she persisted, sensing his awkwardness. "I feel like we really need to talk about what happened."

He only nodded in response.

"Well, I guess that means I should go first," she assumed. "Remus, I want you to know that I don't feel any differently about you just because I know what you are. You're still my friend, so I will always love and accept you, regardless of your condition. I don't want anything to change just because I know your secret. I promise I won't tell anyone. We're just the same as ever. If anything, I hope this makes us closer." She placed a comforting hand atop his. "Oh! Also, I'm sorry I kicked you in the nose. I hope I didn't hurt you too bad."

He shook his head. "No, it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Oh, good," she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Lily," he said. "I really appreciate your kind words, and I understand that you won't tell anyone, but I know that you will look at me differently. You know me now as the monster that I am."

"Remus," she said gently, taking his chin in her hand and forcing him to look at her. "You are _not_ a monster. You are a brilliant, brave, loving, and strong young man. You are a werewolf one day out of every month. That means you are only a werewolf twelve days out of the three hundred and sixty five in each year. That is a small fraction, my friend. Those twelve measly days do not make you who you are. It's what you do with the other three hundred and fifty-three days that counts. Stop focusing on your one flaw and start embracing the wonderful things about you."

She saw a tear spring up in his eye and begin to travel down his cheek. She wiped it away with her thumb. They locked eyes for a moment before she pulled him into a tight hug.

"You really mean it? You'll still be my friend?" he whispered, sounding almost childlike.

"Always," she breathed back.

Once they pulled apart, Lily gave him a kind smile. He sort of grimaced back at her, and she gave him a soft pat on the back.

"So where are James, Sirius and Peter? Surely, they'll want to see to it that you're on the mend," she said sunnily.

"I sent them away the other day," he admitted shamefully. "I don't them I didn't want to see them anymore."

Lily stared at him for several long moments before she narrowed her eyes at him sharply and whispered darkly, " _What?_ "

"I was really furious with them because they let you find out, when I specifically told James and Sirius that you were the last person I would ever want to discover my secret!" he explained desperately.

Her expression softened only slightly; but only slightly. "Remus, they didn't _let_ me find out anything. I found out all on my own because I overheard something Sev was saying to his Slytherin friends about following the four of you. I was the one who was stupid enough to continue into the Shrieking Shack! If anything you should thank them for protecting me!"

"They really protected you, Lily?" Remus retorted. "Tell me, where did you get that scratch on your leg?"

Lily felt herself positively boil with rage for blaming himself and his friends for her injury.

"Shut up, Remus! It's no one's fault but mine that I got hurt!" she was nearly shouting at him now, but she didn't want Madam Pomfrey to hear her. "I was such a stupid fool to go into that shack and James and Sirius saved me! We both owe our lives to them! I know you didn't want me to find out, but what you need to understand that you can search the whole world and never find people who are as loyal to you as they are!"

Remus hung his head again, and she noticed a tear drop from his chin and land on his sheets, darkening the white. His knuckles were turning white from clenching handfuls of the covers so tightly. His shoulders also shook as he released a sob.

"I just…I just can't believe I hurt you," he said, his voice cracking. "I hurt you…"

"Yeah, you did," she said simply, then cupped his face in her hands and made him face her. "But you know who kept you from killing me? James and Sirius, and unless you make up with them, we might not get so lucky next time."

"I understand," he said, defeated. "I'll talk to them. You-you aren't coming next time are you?"

"I promise I won't come ever again," she assured him. "I don't want to see that again, and I don't think James would let me. Would you like me to fetch them for you?"

He nodded, so she gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek and swept from the hospital wing to find James and Sirius.

Sirius and James insisted that Lily accompany them to the hospital wing after she told them Remus wanted to talk to them. They told her they would need a witness in case Remus was bluffing and had secretly planned to murder them.

"I'm so glad you don't hate us anymore," James remarked. "Otherwise I might suspect you were in on it."

Sirius halted in the middle of the corridor. He whipped around and eyed Lily suspiciously. "She still could be, James. Maybe this whole friendship has been a ruse to lure us into a false sense of security."

James punched him in the arm. "Don't be a prat, Sirius."

Sirius said nothing in reply, but stayed on the opposite side of James from Lily the rest of the way to the hospital wing. When they got to the door, the boys stopped and just looked at the doorknob in front of them. Sirius sighed and turned eyes on James.

"What are we going to say?" he wondered.

"Nothing," Lily answered. "Let him speak. He knows that you two are sorry. He wants to talk now."

She opened the door, but still James and Sirius did not move.

"Oh, and you two call yourselves Gryffindors!" Lily cried, exasperated.

She shoved both of them over the threshold to get them started, and they inched toward Remus's bed. He looked up from his book as they took seats beside him. Lily perched on the end of the bed.

"Ickle Remus," James began, but Remus held up a hand to stop him.

"Please, James," he said. "I know what you're going to say. You're sorry."

"We are, mate," Sirius added.

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. He glanced at Lily who gave him a nod in support. "It has been brought to my attention that I may have overreacted to Lily discovering my…um…secret. I apologize. I misunderstood what transpired on Friday night, and I thought you two had gone against my wishes. I know now that Lily found out because she was protecting all of us. I…I am so sorry. You two are truly my best friends. Peter is too – he was here earlier, and we also discussed some things, but I digress. I realize now that I could not keep you two out of my life even I killed you. You've accepted me for all these years, when you really never had to, and you've never…you've never treated me like I was different –" his voice broke on the last syllable and he stopped to take a deep breath.

"Ickle Remus," Sirius broke in. "You know we will always see you as ickle Remus. You're never gonna be a monster to us."

"Yeah," James agreed and placed a comforting hand on Remus's shoulder. "We're never going to leave you or do anything you're not comfortable with. We're here for you. Always."

Remus sniffled. "Thank you."

"Of course," Sirius said. "Now get some sleep. We need our ickle Remus back at is soon. I've got a Potions essay I really can't do on my own."

Remus smiled weakly. "You could always ask Lily, you know."

Sirius shook his head. "It's not the same. No offense, Lily."

"None taken," she assured him.

"You're sure everything's alright, ickle Remus?" James asked, still concerned.

"Yes," Remus said. "Now, bugger off. I'm sure you two have…well, I'm sure you've got something you must do."

They all bid Remus farewell and left the hospital wing feeling very much relieved. They headed back toward the common room, and Lily took James's hand. He looked at her and she beamed at him. He returned the smile and felt his heart begin to hammer against his chest. He and Lily had touched before, but it was always something small like a brush of the hands. This time she had taken initiative. It was her choice. She truly wanted to hold his hand. James felt like a hero. With his friendship with Remus restored and things finally going right with Lily, he felt invincible.


	14. Chapter 14

A couple nights later, James came in the portrait hole late after studying in the library. He rubbed his tired eyes as he passed through the common room, but his eyes shot open when he heard sniffling coming from the couch. His favorite red head sat alone, facing the slowly dying fire. "Lily?" he asked hesitantly.

She slowly turned to face him and forced a polite smile. Her nose was red and her eyes were puffy and watery. "Oh, hi James," she said, looking away from him. "Don't mind me, it's late and you must be tired." She turned back to face the wall.

"Don't be silly," James replied cheerfully, leaping over the back of the couch to join her. He put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into his chest quite naturally. He kissed her sweetly on the top of her head. "What's wrong, Evans?"

She sat up and grabbed the piece of parchment laying on the cushion next to her. "It's a letter from my sister," she explained, handing it to him so he could read. "I wrote her a couple weeks ago to check in at home and she sends me this nasty reply."

"Wow, your sister is a real bitch," he said without thinking.

She smacked his shoulder. "Shut up," she told him, but she chuckled. "We were so close when we were younger. When it started to become apparent that I could do magic she was so jealous and ever since then, she's always been so unkind to me."

"I'm sorry," James replied sincerely.

She sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter. But I miss my sister. I know you don't have any siblings, but I look at the friendship you have with Sirius and Remus, and they're practically your brothers, and it makes me ache."

"You don't feel that close to Mary or Elizabeth?"

"Not at all. They're the closest things I have to friends now that me and Sev don't talk anymore. But Mary is so absorbed with Sirius, she's impossible to talk to. And Liz is kind of distancing herself from us because we hang out with you lot so much." Lily sniffled again. "I guess I'm feeling extra lonely lately," she finished. More tears sprang to her eyes, and they fell down her cheeks as she let out a sob.

In one swift movement, James wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face in his robes. "Lily, I'm so sorry you're feeling this way. You're so amazing, and you don't deserve this." He started running his fingers through her hair. "I would very much like to tell you that you have me and Sirius and ickle Remus, but I know it's not the same."

She giggled. "No, it's not," she agreed, pulling away from the embrace.

"But it's still true," he continued. "We all love you a lot. We think you're incredible. You're smart, and kind, and brave, and you're the hottest girl I've seen in real life."

"Oh, gee, thanks," she quipped.

"Well, you are!" he cried. "But on a serious note, we are here for anything you need. I'm sure we could even get ickle Remus to listen to your girl problems."

"You're a git," she told him sarcastically.

"I know," he admitted. "But I mean it when I say that we already consider you one of our best friends." He grabbed her hand and squeezed. "We love you."

"Thanks," she said, returning his hand-squeeze. "I love you too."

Now she looked directly into his eyes. Her emerald gaze held his hazel one as she slowly inched her face closer to his. She slowly shut her eyes and he lightly touched his lips to hers. They let their lips hover still closer to each other.

"I've loved you ever since I first laid eyes on you on first year, Lily," James whispered.

"I know," she whispered back, smiling.

Then she pressed her lips to his, more firmly this time. James' heart raced as he continued kissing the girl of his dreams. Her lips were so soft he thought he would melt into them. She tasted like watermelon lip gloss. She scooted ever closer to him and tangled her hands in his messy hair, and he pulled her into him around her waist. James felt like he was dreaming, or floating, or flying. Whatever it was, he thought of nothing but Lily and her soft lips. He let himself drown in her flowery scent.

James entered the room he shared with his friends with a grin that could bring the sun up. Sirius looked up from his copy of _The Daily Prophet_ and asked, "Is that your sex face, James?"

James scoffed. "It's better," he answered. "I just spent the last twenty minutes snogging Lily Evans," he explained after Sirius raised his eyebrows.

Suddenly, a room containing only three people erupted into applause and congratulations. James felt like a king on a palanquin. He jumped up and down like a child as his friends showered him with pats on the back.

"That is so great, mate!" Sirius cried. "How'd it happen?"

"She was downstairs and she was reading this nasty letter from her sister and we just got to talking, and we just ended up snogging," James said.

"So, she's your girlfriend now?" Remus asked.

James paused. "I don't know…" he trailed off. "I guess I better go ask."

Remus' and Sirius' faces fell. "She's still sitting down there?" Sirius asked, his voice higher than usual.

"Well, yeah," James said, as if it were obvious. "I had to come tell you lot."

After a moment of complete silence, Sirius moved. He grabbed James by his robes, opened the door of their room, and shoved his friend outside. "You're not allowed back in here until you realize what you did," he scolded James, and smacked him on his nose with The Daily Prophet.

"What a git," Sirius murmured as he joined Remus back in the room.

"Lily has her work cut out for her with that one," Remus continued.

"Are you alright, mate?" Sirius asked, concerned.

"Of course," Remus replied. "I've always known Lily and James were meant to be. James' friendship means more to me than my feelings for Lily ever could. I'm really happy for them both," he finished, giving Sirius a genuine smile.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." He nodded at Remus.

"So, you think Frank and Alice will ever sleep in the dormitories again?" Remus asked, looking at the empty bed at the other end of the room that hadn't been filled in months.

Sirius chuckled. "Nope."


	15. Chapter 15

It didn't take long before the entire school knew that James Potter had finally gotten Lily Evans to be his girlfriend. It wasn't like they were shy about it. In fact, the other marauders were beginning to get a bit repulsed by James and Lily's ceaseless snogging and fawning over one another. It was surprising from Lily at least. Nevertheless, they were mostly happy for their friend. Severus Snape on the other hand, walked about the school in a gloomier mood than usual. His face seemed to have a permanent scowl etched on it, even though the marauders had left him pretty much alone the last few weeks. This behavior was noticed by everyone, it seemed, except Lily and James.

"I do feel a bit sorry for him," Remus remarked one day at breakfast. Lily and James were off in their own world, unable to hear him.

"Who cares about Snivellus?" returned Sirius. "I mean, he blew it with Lily. That's that."

"Doesn't mean he isn't hurting," Peter chimed in.

"Why are you defending him?" Sirius asked.

Peter went pink. "No reason! I just feel bad for him too is all."

"Where have you been lately, Peter?" Sirius continued. "I mean, I feel like we've barely seen you all year."

"Oh, around," Peter answered vaguely.

Sirius and Remus raised their eyebrows at one another.

"You're hiding something," Sirius insisted.

"You know you can always tell us what's going on in your life, Peter," Remus added. "Merlin knows we've heard enough of the James and Lily saga."

"Is it a girl?" Sirius asked.

"No," Peter replied.

"Is it a boy?" Remus inquired.

"NO!" Peter almost shouted.

"Just making sure," Remus said innocently.

"Come off it, Peter, you can't fool us," Sirius said.

Peter opened his mouth to reply, but Mary appeared next to Sirius, capturing his mouth with hers. Remus groaned. They kissed for several moments before separating at last for air.

"Hello, love," Sirius greeted, his voice husky.

"Hey," she said, adding an extra peck.

"Honestly, don't we have enough of this going on with James and Lily?" Remus interjected. "I mean, it's understandable with those two, they're just starting out, but you've been going out for a year now!"

"Aw, is ickle Remus jealous that he hasn't got someone?" Sirius teased.

Remus glared at him.

"Don't be angry with me," Sirius said. "You could've gone out with one of the hottest girls at this school – nay, in the country, and you turned her down. That's on you, mate."

Remus tutted, packed his things, and swept out of the Great Hall. Peter, feeling more awkward than ever, followed suit not long after, leaving the two couples to their breakfast.

"Great, now that they're gone, we can start planning our double date to Hogsmeade this weekend!" Mary exclaimed.

"Yep!" Lily chirped.

"Do we have to?" whined Sirius.

"Yes!" Mary insisted.

"But we were having such a good time snogging," he argued.

Mary playfully hit him in the arm. "Come on, you know I don't like doing that in front of the teachers. And Lily doesn't either, what, with her being a prefect and all."

"I like it," James said. "I like seeing Slughorn's face every time I'm all over his model pupil."

Lily frowned. "That's gross."

"It's hilarious," Sirius came to James' aid.

"You two are pigs," Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey," Mary said, getting their attention. "Hogsmeade. This weekend. What are we doing?"

"Well, definitely the Three Broomsticks," James said. "I've got to tell Rosmerta that Lily and I are finally together."

"Honestly, James, you're acting like we got engaged or something," Lily said.

"Lily, I don't think you quite understand the importance of you agreeing to be my girlfriend," he said. "People have been waiting for this."

"What people?" she questioned.

"Literally everyone," he told her. "'cept Snivellus, I expect. But even the teachers are happy for us! McGonagall actually clapped me on the back after she heard, and the only other time she's done that is when I win Quidditch matches. And while Slughorn doesn't like seeing us snog, he pulled me aside after Potions and told me he was glad I made you happy. Dumbledore shook my hand in the library the other day and just said 'well done', so I'm assuming he meant with you since I haven't exactly accomplished much else. And Rosmerta has been telling me for years that you'll come around once I mature, and that you'd eventually see the right side of me. She's going to be ecstatic about this news!"

"James, you really need to stop telling people about your problems," Lily said, staring wide-eyed at him. "I mean, that many people knew how you felt…."

"I mean, yeah," James replied. "I wasn't exactly private about it, was I? I shouted at you to go out with me down corridors, I'd be shocked if people didn't know."

"Okay, so now that James has showed us just how pathetic he really is," said Mary, smirking as Sirius stifled a snigger. "What should we do after drinks at the Three Broomsticks?"

"I say Zonko's," Sirius said. "James and I haven't been keeping up with our mischief making."

"Come now, Sirius," James replied. "That isn't very romantic."

Sirius gaped at his friend, but Lily beamed at him.

"How about Madam Puddifoot's?" Mary suggested. "That's a cute place for cakes and such."

"Oh, I like that," Lily agreed, looking at James expectantly.

"Whatever you want, Lily," James assured her.

"You're the best," she said.

"No, you're the best," he argued, grinning. Then he leaned in and kissed her.

Sirius cleared his throat before they got too carried away. "Right, so this other shop. Anything else you ladies have got in mind?"

"We could just walk around the village," Lily said. "Honeyduke's is always good. I mean, it's not like we need to have this down to a schedule."

They continued discussing their plans animatedly until they had to go to class. They joined Remus and Peter in Charms just as the bell rang. After Charms was Potions, and then Transfiguration. Class went as usual with McGonagall. They were learning how to turn plants into animals. This was particularly difficult bit of magic, but most of them had it, except Peter, who barely managed to make his plant take the shape of an animal. Lily succeeded in turning a lily into a fish, which seemed to delight her. She asked Professor McGonagall if she could keep it, and McGonagall consented. As they made their way to lunch, Lily resolved to give it to Professor Slughorn as a gift.

They had a free period after lunch, so Lily went down to Slughorn's office to give him the flower. She knew he had class, so she planned to surprise him by leaving it on his desk as a flower. When he saw it, it would sink down and transform into a fish. She placed it on the desk, and then left to head back to the common room. She was humming to herself as she made her way. Her good mood dissolved when she ran into someone in the corridor. It was Severus.

"Hello, Lily," he said, attempting to sound friendly.

"Hello," she returned coldly.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Gryffindor common room," she told him, icy as ever. "I've just been to see Professor Slughorn."

"You know he's –"

"Yes, I know he's got class right now," she interrupted. "What do you want?"

"Are you…are you really going out with Potter?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" she returned. "Do you think I'd be snogging him and holding his hand and literally doing everything a girlfriend should do but not actually dating him? What kind of girl do you take me for, Severus?"

"How can you go out with him?" he continued. "After everything he's done!"

"James isn't the same guy he used to be," she said. "He's really grown up and he cares about me a lot. And more importantly, I care a lot about him. I see who he really is now."

Severus' hands balled into fists. "You already knew who he was! He showed you on more than one occasion!"

"That was a year ago!" Lily argued. "Like I said, he's really grown up. James is really kind and gentle once you get to know him."

Without warning, Severus' hands gripped Lily's shoulders and he slammed her back against the wall. She shouted with fright and her eyes got wide with fear and anger.

"How can you be so stupid, Lily?!" Severus bellowed. "He's going to make a fool out of you just like he does to everyone else! You're wasted on him! He could never love you –"

SMACK! Severus released Lily when she slapped him, the sound cracking like a whip throughout the empty corridor. He stared at her in shock, but his expression softened when he saw that her eyes were filling with tears as she backed away from him.

"Lily," he began. "Lily, I'm so –"

"No!" she shouted. "Shut up! Don't you ever touch me again!"

"Please, Lily," he said.

"You just stay away from me!" she shrieked, and took off down the corridor back in the direction of Gryffindor tower feeling completely overwhelmed with emotion. She had no idea if she should tell James about this or not.

Meanwhile, James was back in his dormitory with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. They were working on the Marauder's Map, which was actually mostly complete except for a few finishing touches. They were mostly just seeing if anything needed editing at this point when they heard someone coming upstairs. They quickly closed the map and put it away as their fifth roommate, Frank Longbottom entered grinning.

"What's going on with you, Frank?" Sirius asked.

Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He opened it to reveal a delicate diamond engagement ring.

"It just came for me with the post," he said. "I'm going to ask Alice to marry me."


	16. Chapter 16

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all gaped at their classmate. Being only sixteen, they were completely amazed by him. Sirius knew since first year that one day Frank and Alice would be married, but he expected one day to be a little further down the road.

"Uh… that's great?" Sirius began.

"I know we're young," Frank began. "But I know Alice is the right girl for me. I've wanted to marry her since we were eleven. I know what you're going to tell me, and I don't want to hear it. Right now, I need your support."

After a long pause, Remus finally said, "And you've got it, mate."

Frank beamed. "Thank you guys. Now I have a really great idea of how to ask her. Tomorrow night will be the sixth anniversary of our first date, and I want to make it really special. So, here's what I need you to do…"

The next night, the marauders, excluding Peter, waited patiently by the black lake with Frank for Alice. Frank paced back and forth in the grass awaiting his girlfriend.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Sirius whispered to James. "I know we were really worried about them being so young, but now that we're here, this seems so right. I'm so excited for them." "I know," James agreed. "I think they are going to be amazing."

Finally, they saw the shadow of a thin girl walking toward them and they knew it was Alice. Frank stopped pacing and watched her arrive. He then began making floating candles with his wand. They lit up the area so romantically, and Alice's face lit up with surprise.

"Frank, what is all this?" she asked, approaching him with an embrace. "Hey guys," she greeted the three boys behind Frank. "I didn't think you would be joining us," she teased.

"Alice, there's something I need to tell you," Frank said. Alice grinned at him, her eyes reflecting the candle light. "Ever since I met you, I've known I wanted to be yours. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be. You are my best friend, and I want to spend the rest of my life continuing to get to know you. I want to spend all of my days with you. And I thought what better way to show you how I feel than through a song."

Alice giggled with delight as Frank nodded at James and Sirius and they pulled out the keyboard hidden behind them and Remus pulled out a stool for Frank. He sat down and began to play as his friends "Ooh"ed behind him.

" _I never could have imagnined_

 _how good my life could be_

 _before I ever met my Ally._

 _We're inseparable as peas_

 _in a pod, just you and me._

 _We can hardly even see_

 _other people._

 _But that's alright by me_

 _because you are all I need,_

 _and I can't wait to see_

 _you in a steeple._

 _So pick a white dress_

 _You'll be my princess_

 _Just please, oh please,_

 _Say Yes."_

Now, Frank stepped away from the piano and got down on one knee in front of Alice, pulled a velvet box and presented her with a delicate diamond ring.

 _"I never could have imagined_

 _How could my life could be_

 _Before I ever met my Ally."_

Alice's hand covered her mouth, and she was shaking with happy tears. Frank was breathing heavy and he his grin stretched all the way across his face. "Alice, will you marry me?" he asked.

"Yes!" Alice squealed through her tears and Frank slid the ring on her left ring finger as he stood. Alice threw her arms around his neck and they held on to the sweetest embrace any of the marauders had ever seen. Frank pulled Alice in tighter and he spun her around and her ring glimmered in the moonlight.

It was like watching a movie. James couldn't tear his eyes off of the happy couple. All he could picture was himself getting a hug from Lily like that and nothing in the world excited him more. He felt like he was watching his future. He could see a beautiful diamond ring on his own girlfriend's finger and he pictured her red tresses flowing down against a white gown. He pictured her laying with her legs across his lap, a swollen belly blocking her from full view. She flashed him her usual radiant smile.

Sirius' voice brought him back to present day. "Think this about where we leave, eh Prongs? Moony?"

"You're right, Sirius, it's about time we bugger off," agreed Remus.

"Yeah…" James trailed off.

"Thanks guys," Frank said, as they headed back up to the castle.

"O' course," Sirius replied, and they left the happy couple to enjoy the rest of their night.

Within the next couple of days, Sirius and Lily found themselves alone at the lunch hour. "Hey Lils," greeted Sirius. "Where's that mangy boyfriend of yours?"

Lily chuckled. "I'm not the one supposed to be keeping up with him today, Sirius. It's Thursday, and that's your day."

"Oh, that's right," Sirius agreed, then he shrugged. "Well, he's a big boy I'm sure he can find his own way to lunch."

"I'm kind of surprised you two aren't together," Lily began. "Aren't you two attached by the same brain wave or something?"

"Hilarious Lily," Sirius replied. "Actually I have no idea where he is today. I left the library earlier and he said he'd meet me at lunch and here I am and James is nowhere to be found."

"Well, how've you been then?" Lily asked. "We can catch up while we wait on him."

"I've been good. I don't know how well I'm going to do on this next Potions exam, so I'm a little stressed about that, but otherwise life is good. And yourself?"

Lily took a minute before responding. "If I told you something, could you promise not to tell James?"

"Of course, Lily," he answered.

"Okay, well the other day, I was dropping off a present for Professor Slughorn…" She recalled her entire encounter with Severus and when she finished, Sirius said nothing for a little while. He looked deep in thought. "Well?" she asked. "Should I tell James?"

"Oh, heavens no," Sirius almost interrupted. "No, James would beat the snot out of him if you ever told him Snivelly touched you. To be honest, I'd like to do the same thing meself but I know it would just upset you."

Lily fidgeted with her fingers.

"How do you feel about it?" Sirius asked her.

"I don't really know. Obviously, it scared me to death, but I don't really know what his intentions were…" she trailed off. "I'm just so confused by him."

"Yeah, me too. That's very strange behavior," Sirius agreed.

"I just don't understand what he wants from me," Lily continued. "It's like, I know he wants to be friends again, but he does everything in his power to mess that up."

"Do you want to be friends with him again?"

Lily paused. "I thought I did. I mean, right after he called me that awful word, I thought if he really tried to make it up to me, I would forgive him. But then I realized that forgiveness doesn't equal friendship. Even though I forgave him for that, I still didn't want to be his friend anymore. And now he's doing so many other stupid things, I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever feel positively about him again. I'm starting to wonder what I ever saw in him as a friend to begin with."

Sirius nodded. "Well, I guess when you can relate to someone in a way that no one else seems to be able to relate to you, it makes you feel like someone can be trusted. But people change over time, and I think Severus was influenced by the wrong people here at Hogwarts. He got in with a different crowd than you, and just because you two were friends and could relate to each other at one time, doesn't mean it would be that way forever. Sometimes it's best not to dwell on what was. I think your childhood friendship was very real, and you should cherish those memories, but who he is now is different and you two are going down different paths. I mean, the world isn't split into good people and bad people. Everyone has a little light and dark inside them. What matters is the part they choose to act on."

Lily seemed taken aback by Sirius's words. "Wow, Sirius that was really profound. That actually makes me feel loads better." She grinned at him. "Thank you."

Sirius returned her smile. "Yeah, it's no problem, Lily. You're part of the family now, so you know I'll always hear you out. C'mon then, bring it in." Lily slid closer to Sirius and wrapped her arms around his waist, and his around her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her closer. It was the most friendly hug Lily had ever experienced.

"Everything alright you two?" James had taken a seat on the other side of Lily. Sirius and Lily separated and she leaned in closer to her boyfriend, greeting him with a peck on the lips.

"Yeah, Lily was just listening to me bitch about some stuff and she felt like I needed a hug," Sirius answered quickly.

James raised his eyebrows. "What kind of stuff?"

"Eh, family stuff." Sirius shrugged and helped himself to some lunch.

"Lily, you're the sweetest," James complimented, kissing her cheek.

She giggled. "Thanks, darling," she replied, giving Sirius a very grateful smile.


	17. Chapter 17

The girls were shifting through everything in their dormitory, searching for something to wear to Hogsmeade that day. They were even going through each other's things to get a variety. Now that Lily was with James, Mary was incredibly excited to begin double dates. Lily adjusted a dress of Mary's she was trying on in the mirror.

"That looks great on you, Lily!" complimented Alice.

"Really? Thanks!" Lily returned.

"Yeah," Mary agreed. "Better than it even looks on me. You want to keep it?"

"Seriously?" Lily questioned.

"Of course!" Mary assured her.

"Thank you!" Lily exclaimed with a celebratory twirl. "Hey, Alice, do you and Frank want to join us today? Triple date could be fun!"

Alice shook her head. "Thanks, but Frank and I are celebrating together today. It's our first date as fiancés, and we need to start some wedding planning."

"That sounds like fun!" Mary said. "Tell us everything you talk about!"

"Will do!" Alice promised, and then swept out of the room to meet her waiting fiancée.

Mary strode up to the mirror, having decided her outfit, and began putting on makeup. She carefully applied her favored cherry red lipstick onto her plump lips and puckered into the mirror. Sirius loved this look. She smirked. She glanced sideways at Lily, who was humming to herself as she added some mascara to her lashes. Mary couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Lily and James were in the blissful honeymoon phase, and while Mary and Sirius snogged often and shagged whenever they could, she couldn't help but feel their relationship was still more like a casual fling. That Sirius didn't see her the way James saw Lily.

"Hey, Lily," Mary said, deciding to voice her thoughts. "This might seem out of nowhere, but…do you ever think that Sirius might just be like, a douchebag?"

Lily blinked. "I – what?!"

"I dunno," Mary continued. "Sometimes I just don't think he takes our relationship seriously."

Lily thought back to her most recent one-on-one with Sirius. The way he knew exactly what to say, and the maturity it took to say it…Lily almost saw Sirius as an entirely new person. Of course, Mary didn't know this.

"No, Mary," Lily said. "I don't think Sirius is just a douchebag. Like James, there's probably more to him, you just kind of have to get closer to him."

"We've been going out almost a year and a half, I'd say we're pretty close," Mary returned, a little bitterly.

"Okay, but Sirius isn't like James in that respect," Lily said. "James is an open book; you never have to wonder what he's feeling and there's nothing that's too much for him to talk about. Sirius is a different case. He's more complex. I think if you asked him, he'd tell you things that might surprise you."

"Has he talked to you about those things?" Mary asked.

"No," said Lily. "I only know tidbits of what James has told me. Sirius has a difficult past, but I think that if you're there for him, he'll open up to you."

Something about Lily's words always made Mary feel better. She smiled, hugged her friend, and together they met their boyfriends in the common room before setting off for Hogsmeade.

The next day, after classes, Mary was headed back to Gryffindor tower from the library, looking forward to spending the evening happily in Sirius's arms. She imagined that Lily and James were already well on their way in their snogging, but she and Sirius could definitely catch up. She smiled to herself, thinking of it as a competition, but when two best friends were going out with another pair of best friends, some friendly competitiveness was to be expected. She turned a corner and quite literally ran into Peter Pettigrew.

"Oh, Peter, I'm so sorry!" she cried, helping him back to his feet. Mary had stumbled, but managed to stay upright, but Peter, clumsy as he was, scrambled and fell over. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes, fine," he said nervously, brushing dirt off his robes.

She could not help but notice that Peter was thinner than she remembered him being and quite pale. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? You look like you might be sick."

"Yes, yes," he assured her, but it was not very convincing. "I was just looking for you actually."

"For me?" she wondered. "What for?"

"Sirius wants to see you in the forest," he said. "He said he has a surprise for you."

She thought about this. It wasn't a special occasion, so she couldn't imagine why Sirius would have some romantic evening prepared. Also, Sirius wasn't the "grand gesture" type. It was really the sort of thing James would do for Lily.

"Did he say why?" she asked.

Peter shook his head. "Nope, only that you should go out there and meet him as soon as you can. He said it was important."

Mary eyed him skeptically but decided she ought to do as Peter said. After all, he was Sirius's friend, so she trusted him. She changed course and headed for the entrance hall to go out the front doors. It was not yet after hours, so it wouldn't be impossible. Peter walked with her.

"So, how've you been, Peter?" she asked to make conversation. Peter was the one of that foursome she was not very close to. "I haven't seen you with Sirius and them lately. Everything alright?"

"I've been trying harder at school," he replied. "I'm in the library a lot."

"I see," she said. "Well, that's good. But you know, you can always ask any of us for help. We're your friends, we don't mind."

She noticed that Peter was not meeting her gaze; or even looking at her at all for that matter. He seemed to be entirely captivated by his own shoelaces. Sweat had begun to form beads on his forehead, despite the fact that it was cool and they were walking slowly.

"Peter, I think perhaps you ought to go back and see Madam Pomfrey, you really aren't looking well," she insisted.

"I'm fine!" he shouted. "I've got to bring you to Sirius!"

Mary, deciding that arguing was not going to be worth it, allowed this, and they continued to walk toward the forest. She noticed they were not going by Hagrid's hut.

"Hey, Peter?" she said. "Why aren't we going by Hagrid's? That's the safest way into the forest. And the light could keep us from getting lost."

"That's not the way," he said simply, and kept walking.

Mary shrugged and followed him. They walked for what felt like hours until the path was no longer clear due to the thickness of the foliage combined with the darkness. Mary lit the tip of her wand so as to watch her step, but even that was not much of a help. Then, when she looked up, Peter was gone. She turned about, searching wildly for him, her eyes wide and terrified. She had never been alone in the forest before. Not only that, but the person who knew where they were going had suddenly disappeared.

"Peter!" she called. "Peter, where are you? Sirius?!"

"I'm afraid your boyfriend can't help you now," said a sinister voice from behind her.

She whipped around, holding her wand high. The light revealed the face of a Slytherin seventh year, who Mary knew was called Mulciber. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What have you done to Peter?" she demanded.

"Pettigrew is the least of your concerns right now," he sneered.

The rustling around her alerted her to the approach of some others. All were Slytherins. Mary's mind was racing. She wasn't sure how this happened, but she need a way to get out. She wasn't sure she could take on all of them, but she would go down swinging.

She held her wand higher, so it was pointing at his neck. Unfortunately, she wasn't tall enough to get it in his face. "Where – is – Peter?" she said again.

"Sent him back up to the castle, didn't we?" said another of the Slytherins. Mary, her wand still pointed at Mulciber, turned to the source, who was a sixth year called Avery.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We only needed him to get you down here," Mulciber explained. "So when you weren't looking, we had him turn off the path and go back up to the school. We don't need him coming to his senses only to help you."

"Coming to his senses…" she wondered. "You mean…you had him under the Imperius Curse?!"

They all sniggered, and she glowered at them. "What do you want with me, anyway? Slytherin girls just aren't cutting it? Makes sense, considering they're all dogs."

They stopped laughing and glared at her.

"Have I struck a nerve?" she taunted. Inwardly, she was kicking herself. She didn't need to be insulting, but she also didn't want them to think she was even remotely afraid. "Did I insult your girlfriends or sisters or something? Oh, wait they're all the same since you lot are so desperate for pure blood!"

It got dangerously silent.

"Don't be so quick to judge, your boyfriend is part of that world," said Avery.

"Sirius isn't under the impression that interbreeding makes him better than everyone else," she returned.

"Hence he went slumming with a half blood like you," Mulciber spat. "Black's half-blood whore."

She smirked. "You wanna start with the 'whore' stuff look in your own house. Narcissa has shagged the entire school and then some. I'll admit, Lucius tamed her, but still, haven't all of you had her at some point?"

"I'll thank you to keep your mouth shut about my girlfriend," interjected Lucius.

"Oh, you're here, Malfoy," Mary feigned surprise. "What's it like being with Narcissa, by the way? Like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?"

As Lucius sputtered a retort, Mary's mind was going wild with solutions to her predicament. If she even so much as flinched wrong with her wand hand, they'd disarm her or worse. She knew she could stun Mulciber without saying the spell, but she wasn't sure she'd be far enough away by the time he was down to be safe from the others. She was completely surrounded, after all.

"Hold on, Lucius," Mulciber said, and Mary rounded on him.

"What are you gonna do, Mulciber?" she challenged.

Then, with just the flickering of his eyes, his signaled them all to move at once. One disarmed her, and her wand went flying from her hand, the light gone. Another grabbed her by the wrists and held them behind her. Avery took hold of her skirt.

" _Diffindo,_ " he said, and got she cried out when the spell cut her leg as well as the fabric.

They used the new cloth to tie her wrists together behind her back, but it was no easy task. Mary was struggling against them with everything she had. By the time they were done, they were panting. Then Mulciber stepped closer to Mary, undid the knot of her tie, slid it off her neck, and stuffed it into her mouth. Then, suddenly, she was hanging in the air, upside down as if being held by an invisible giant.

"Nice knickers, MacDonald," Mulciber teased. "Planning on seeing Black later?"

The others sniggered again.

"Eat me!" Mary tried to shout, but forgetting she was gagged, it only came out as muffled noise.

"Yeah, it's not so funny when it happens to you, is it?" Avery added.

Mary was stumped for a response to this – not that it mattered much anyway since they wouldn't be able to understand her. She was confused. Were they punishing her for what James had done to Severus last year after exams? If that was the case, she was even angrier because she had absolutely nothing to do with that. She just glared at him as intensely as she could, screaming insults at them inside her head.

"Lucius, how would you like to punish her for her earlier comment on your darling Narcissa?" asked Mulciber as if he were asking if Lucius would like to join him for dinner.

"Hmmm," Lucius said thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll just make her sweat. _Incendio!_ "

A fire erupted directly beneath her. The flames leaping and catching the ends of her hair. It had the desired effect. The heat was soon too much for Mary to bear combined with the blood rushing to her head from being upside down. In no time, her face was coated with sweat. The Slytherins laughed.

"Maybe we should cool her off," suggested Avery, pointing his wand in her face. " _Aguamenti!_ " A stream of water hit her square in the face, and she was unable to breathe. When it stopped, she felt like she was about to pass out.

Suddenly, they put the fire out and she dropped to the ground.

"What?" demanded Mulciber.

"I thought I heard someone," said Avery.

They all looked around. When they saw no one, they returned their attention to Mary. Mulciber decided to take his turn again and used the Tickling Charm. Mary writhed on the ground beneath him, her tortured laughter still stifled by her tie. He used the Charm for so long that Mary's body began to ache. Tears were spilling down her face. It was becoming difficult to breathe again. He let it go on for so long, she retched on the forest floor, her tie finally coming out of her mouth, but she was unable to do anything but whimper. He released her from the Charm.

"Stop," she panted. "Please…"

"What was that?" he insisted. "I need to hear you beg, bitch!"

Mary shut her eyes tight and let the tears fall. She was not going to take it. She shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"I said," she said venomously. "Is that all you've got?"

Mulciber roared with rage. "I'll show you what I've got!" He raised his wand again, and Mary closed her eyes and braced herself for the worst. " _Cruci_ –"

Nothing happened. Mary opened her eyes and looked at Mulciber, who was looking away from her at a figure in the trees, steadily coming closer. She followed his gaze and watched, hoping that whoever it was could help her out of this situation. The shape of the person was oddly familiar to her.

"Sirius?!" she cried hopefully, for it certainly looked like him.

She was disappointed. When the person stepped into the moonlight, it was not Sirius, but she was right to be mistaken. It was his brother, Regulus. He looked very much like Sirius, only slightly less handsome. Regulus was probably here to help the Slytherins. Mary almost sobbed.

"What's going on here?" he asked, looking at each of them. It was surprising that he seemed to have so much power over them, being the youngest. "What are you doing?"

"Just giving a little lesson," Mulciber answered with a disgusting smile.

"How's that?" Regulus returned, crossing his arms over his chest. It was almost like he was scolding them. "What's she done?"

"She's a half blood!" Avery said.

"So is Severus," Regulus replied. "I don't see you about to torture him."

"She's going out with a pure blood," Mulciber continued. "She'll defile your family line."

"Sirius was disowned when he ran away over the summer," Regulus argued. "I carry on the family line now. Why bother defending the honor of a blood traitor?"

They had no answer for him.

"I told you this was stupid when you told me this plan," he said. "But here you all are, doing it anyway." He strode over to Mary and took hold of her arm. "Here. I'm sorry about all this." He helped her to her feet and untied the makeshift rope around her wrists. She noticed there were bruises forming there, and they had been rubbed raw.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Hey, we're not finished with her yet," Avery protested as Regulus started to lead Mary back to the castle.

"Yes you are," Regulus returned firmly. "If you've got a problem with my brother, why don't you take it up with him?"

With that, he and Mary set off in the direction she had come from. Mary made sure to retrieve her wand before they left, and she and Regulus lit up the path. Mary's mind was completely blank. She could hardly process what had just happened to her. It was a combination of assault, sexual harassment, and torture. Yet, she did not want to think that these things had happened to her. These things didn't happen at school. And yet, her leg was still cut, her breathing was ragged, and she was shaking all over. This boy who so resembled her boyfriend had unexpectedly come to her rescue and she no longer knew how to feel about him either. Sirius and his brother didn't exactly get along anymore, and of course, he was a Slytherin. He was in with the group that had tormented her. But the fact remained that he had saved her.

"Regulus," she said, and his name felt strange on her tongue. She had never spoken it before, especially since Sirius refused outright to talk about his family. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me," he replied. "I only did what was right."

"You didn't have to do it, though," she said. "You could have just joined them, they wouldn't have cared. You stood up to them."

"So did you," he reminded her. "I was impressed. You're surprisingly calm now."

She nodded, but said nothing. She did feel unnaturally calm. She supposed it was from shock, and very soon she would have a meltdown. But she did not want this to take place in front of Regulus. For some absurd reason, she wanted him to remain impressed with her.

"I'm taking you to Hagrid's, by the way," he told her. "He can escort you back to the castle while I sort out my…friends."

"Okay," she said.

"I'm surprised they picked you," he said.

"How do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, the plan was originally going to be for a Mudblood since they're the ones they really hate, but they went with you," he explained. "It was supposed to be a combination of revenge against my brother and Potter as well as a lesson to Mudbloods. I think they wanted to do it to Lily Evans, but Severus wouldn't allow it."

Mary was so stunned by this information she almost stopped in her tracks. "They…they were going to do this to Lily?"

He nodded. "But, like I said, Severus wasn't having it."

"I didn't even see Severus there," she added.

"No, he had to serve detention with McGonagall," Regulus explained. "Otherwise, he would have been."

It was disgusting. Mary wanted to retch all over again. However, she was a bit thankful that it was her and not Lily. Lily was the last person who deserved that. At last, they reached Hagrid's hut and Regulus knocked on the door.

"Wha' on earth?" Hagrid wondered when he saw them. "Mary, are yeh alrigh'?"

Something about the Hogwarts gamekeeper made Mary relax. She no longer felt the overwhelming need to hold back her tears. She let them flow as Hagrid pulled her into a hug.

"Take her back up to the castle," Regulus said. "She needs to see Madam Pomfrey."

"Righ'," Hagrid said, and he scooped Mary up into his arms. Regulus disappeared back into the forest, and Mary watched him go, wondering if all the Blacks were this complicated.

Mary cried all the way up to the castle. She could not bring herself to tell Hagrid what had happened to her. She dreaded that she would have to tell Madam Pomfrey. Her shame in being tricked so easily was too much for her to bear. The only one she wanted to talk to was Lily. Lily would listen and understand, judgement-free. Lily could comfort her. She wanted Sirius too, but she knew that Sirius would only get angry.

Hagrid took her straight to Madam Pomfrey's ward. He set her on a bed and then knocked on the office door. Madam Pomfrey emerged in her dressing gown and Mary heard her gasp when Hagrid told the story of her and Regulus coming from the forest, but he did not know what happened. He turned to the leave the hospital wing to fetch Professor McGonagall.

"Hagrid," said Mary through her sobs. "Will you tell Professor McGonagall to get Lily Evans for me? I just – I need her right now."

Hagrid nodded and left the wing. Madam Pomfrey gave Mary some Calming Drought so that she would be able to tell the story. She took a sip, and her sobbing ceased.

Lily was in deep sleep and in the middle of a wonderful dream involving her and James on a starlight broom ride around the school grounds when she was shaken roughly awake by none other than Professor McGonagall.

"Professor?" questioned Lily, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?" Then she noticed Mary's still-empty bed. She was suddenly completely alert.

Alice stirred awake and sat up. "Professor McGonagall?" she wondered.

"Go on back to sleep, Mrs. Longbottom," McGonagall instructed (all the professors had taken to calling her that since the engagement). "I've got to take Miss Evans with me to the hospital wing."

Lily followed the Head of Gryffindor house down the stairs and out the portrait hole. Lily's mind was going crazy with worry for Mary. Mary was her best friend, and Lily was not sure she'd be okay if something had happened to her. They went to the hospital wing, where Mary was being tended to by Madam Pomfrey.

Mary's face was tear-stained, and she was sipping a potion. Lily had so many questions, but asked none of them; she just crawled onto the bed and pulled Mary into the tightest hug they had ever shared. Mary's tears leaked onto Lily's nightgown, but Lily did not care. She just stroked her friend's hair. Mary needed support right now, and Lily was going to help her through whatever had happened.

"Miss MacDonald," Professor McGonagall said, pulling them both back into the moment. Lily still held Mary's hand. "I need you to tell me exactly what happened to you tonight."

Mary blinked back her remaining tears and told the tale. Lily felt herself boil with rage, and she squeezed Mary's hand. Mary seemed to take this as a form of encouragement, as she offered Lily a weak smile. Lily tried to reciprocate, but it came out as more of a grimace. She was too angry. She told herself to calm down and just be there for Mary right now.

Mary stopped talking. She had reached the point when they got to Hagrid's, but had not told them was Regulus had said about it almost being Lily. McGonagall looked disturbed; Madam Pomfrey, sympathetic; Lily was hard to read.

"Well," McGonagall said shortly. "I shall speak to Horace about his students, and then he and I can discuss things with the Headmaster. This is indeed serious." With that, she swept from the room, no doubt to go and wake Slughorn.

Lily looked at Mary. "What do you need?" she asked.

Mary chuckled. "Not 'are you okay'?"

Lily shook her head. "I know you're not okay. What do you need?"

"Can you just stay here with me?" Mary asked. "I know it's kind of a lot to ask since we've got class in the morning, but –"

Lily held up a hand to stop her. "Say no more. I'm right here for you."

Madam Pomfrey gave Mary a potion for a dreamless sleep, and then she returned to her office. Mary laid back and almost immediately fell asleep, holding Lily's hand. Lily followed suit not long after, wondering how on earth she was going to tell this to Sirius.

The next morning, James and Sirius went downstairs to the common room to wait for their respective girlfriends to join them for breakfast. They waited a long time. Alice came down the stairs to meet Frank, but they stopped her.

"Oi, Alice," said Sirius. "Got any idea where our girls are? We were hoping to have a most pleasant breakfast with them."

Alice looked grim, and James and Sirius exchanged a worried glance.

"Mary never came home last night," she said. "Professor McGonagall came into the room in the middle of the night to get Lily, but she didn't come back either. They went to the hospital wing."


	18. Chapter 18

James and Sirius were running to the hospital wing. Alice had no idea what had happened to Lily and Mary, so they assumed the worst. When they arrived, Mary was asleep and Lily was still in her pajamas sitting beside her friend, stroking her hand.

"Lily, what happened?" James asked. Sirius was frozen, staring at Mary.

Lily recounted everything that Mary had told her. James sank to the floor and rested his head on Lily's lap. Sirius remained like a statue. "She's been asleep since she fell asleep last night. Sirius, are you alright?" Lily finished.

Sirius didn't move still. James and Lily watched him for many silent moments until he finally went to sit on the opposite side of the bed. He lightly brushed Mary's face. Lily couldn't believe this was the same boy that Mary thought wasn't taking the relationship seriously. Sirius was staring at Mary so gently and sweetly and Lily felt tears welling up in her eyes. James rubbed her leg in comfort.

"Can you give us a minute?" Sirius finally asked.

"Of course," Lily responded, and she took James by the hand and left.

Sirius stared at Mary for a long time. As he watched her sleep so peacefully he felt like none of this could have happened to her. So many thoughts flew through his mind. Why would anyone do this? Why Mary? And why did Regulus stop this? However, none of these answers came to him now. He could only focus on Mary and her chest rising and falling in slumber. He felt like he should be feeling angry, but he felt empty. He felt totally drained of emotion and exhausted. Suddenly, his eyes filled with tears. He let them spill over onto Mary's sheets. He let himself get rid of every ounce of pain he was feeling. He felt guilt, love, worry, regret, anger, and sympathy drop onto the sheets of his girlfriend's hospital bed. "Please be alright," he whispered to her. "Just please be okay."

Outside, James and Lily were holding hands, waiting. "They are going to pay," James spat.

"Are you insane?" Lily questioned. "That is the last thing you should do."

"They deserve it!" James protested. "They have to be punished."

"And they will be," Lily retorted. "By Dumbledore and Slughorn, which is who _should_ be punishing them."

"But-"

"Mary doesn't need you to get yourselves expelled right now. She needs her friends around her so she can feel safe."

James sighed. "You're right," he agreed. "But I'm still beyond angry about this. They better be expelled or I'm going to kill them."

Much to her surprise, Sirius was the best boyfriend Mary could have asked for in the weeks that followed. He never asked her about what happened, and when she had woken up in the hospital wing he started talking about his day instead. She couldn't have appreciated him more. While the rest of her friends looked at her with so much pity in their eyes, Sirius carried on their lives like nothing had happened. He never looked at her like he was sorry for her or worried about her. He was just the same old Sirius, and that made her feel like the same old Mary. The only difference in their relationship was that he stopped trying to have sex with her completely. She also appreciated this. It was like Sirius understood exactly how she was feeling without her having to tell him. She wasn't ready to be so physically intimate with him again yet, but she knew that when she was ready, he would be there for her.

James and Sirius sat in the common room a sunny afternoon soon after. "Mate, are you going to talk about what happened?" James finally asked.

"I really don't think that's necessary," Sirius said curtly.

"I think it is. How are you and Mary holding up?"

"James, we're fine. She hasn't talked to me about it yet. When she's ready, she will. I can't force her to talk to me." Sirius told him.

"Well, how are you feeling?" James continued. "Aren't you angry? Don't you want revenge?"

"Of course I do, James, but Dumbledore already gave out their punishments. What can we possibly do now except be there for Mary?"

James rolled his eyes. "Merlin, you sound like Lily."

"Well, she's a smart girl, mate, it's about time you started listening to her."

"To hell with that," James argued, and Sirius raised his eyebrows. "I say we go teach those Slytherins a lesson."

"One of 'those Slytherins' happens to be my brother, who is the one who saved her," Sirius reminded him.

"Then let's get Snivelly."

"He wasn't even there."

"Well, let's do something!" James pleaded. "I can't just sit around and play therapist. We need to take action."

"The guys involved were suspended. What did you have in mind?" Sirius asked.

James broke into a wicked grin. "I say, we trash the Slytherin common room."

Sirius eyed his friend skeptically. "How would we even get there? Or get the password?"

"The map, the cloak, and bully someone into telling us."

Sirius paused again. "I dunno…" he trailed off.

Finally, James could wait no longer. He squatted and put his face right in front of Sirius'. "Sirius, these guys had plans for your girlfriend that we probably can't even comprehend. Had Regulus not shown up much worse would have happened. They bound her, gagged her, cut her, and hung her upside down so they could get a good look at her knickers. They wanted to look at, and touch, everything else." James watched as Sirius's face got darker and darker as he spoke. "What do you have to say about that?"

Sirius didn't say anything for what seemed like a long time. "I say we're going to trash the Slytherin common room," he finally said, fury bubbling in his words.

"Excellent!" James ran upstairs to grab his cloak and the map from their dorm.

"What are you two doing with that stuff? It's midday James," Remus scolded, from his four poster bed.

"We're going to trash the Slytherin common room," James answered matter-of-factly.

"Why?" asked Remus.

"For what they did to Mary."

"James," Remus began, setting his book to the side. "Mary got into that situation because Peter led her there. Don't you think it's time Sirius took that up with him?"


	19. Chapter 19

James and Sirius stood frozen. Peter had been very much out of the picture with them since Mary's incident. Neither of them had spoken to him about it, as they hadn't even thought about what Remus had reminded them of. Suddenly, it seemed, they were less angry and more disappointed.

"Ickle Remus, why must you ruin our perfectly good plans?" James whined.

"First of all, trashing the Slytherin common room is no plan at all," Remus returned. "It's an act of rage. If you've got to destroy something, take it outside the castle. Second of all, the Slytherins would never have gotten to Mary if it hadn't been for Peter. He's the one who owes you an explanation."

Sirius sunk down onto his bed. "Ickle Remus is right," he said. "But where is Peter? He's been avoiding us like the plague since it all happened."

"Merlin's beard, if we can't use that map to find our friends, then what good does it do us?" Remus quipped.

"Of course, the map!" cried James, and leapt to retrieve it from his trunk.

He and Sirius opened it to find that Peter was in the library. James tucked it into his robe, and he and Sirius were off to confront their friend.

They reached the library and found Peter sitting toward the restricted section alone at a table. His nose was pressed to a Charms book and he was mouthing the words as he read them. Then he picked up his quill to scratch down some notes. James and Sirius took seats across the table from him, and when he looked up, his watery eyes went wide.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, but I've got loads of work, so I can't –"

"Mate, save it, we're in all the same classes, so we know that's not true," James said.

"Well, you two don't actually do your work, so of course you'd think that," Peter retorted.

James turned to Sirius with an amused smirk, but Sirius was still eyeing Peter suspiciously.

"We need to talk, Peter," Sirius said. "Somewhere we won't be easily overheard. Come outside with us, okay?"

"I'm sorry, Sirius, but I just can't," Peter protested and turned back to his book.

Sirius stood so quickly, his chair fell over and he slammed the book shut. Both Peter and James jumped in their seats.

"We need to talk now, Peter," he said darkly. "This cannot wait."

Peter, looking frightened, packed his things into his bag, and followed his friends outside onto the grounds. They went out to the birch tree where they had relaxed after their O.W.L.s, but they did not sit down and relax as they usually would.

"Okay, Peter," Sirius began. "I want the truth. What the hell were you doing leading my girlfriend straight into an attack?"

Peter burst into tears. "I'm so sorry!" he wailed. "I didn't mean to!"

"You didn't mean to?!" Sirius shouted. "That's a pretty intentional act if you ask me!"

"Th-they told me they knew about Remus!" Peter blubbered. "They s-said they'd tell the whole s-school!"

"Why didn't you tell them they're barking?!" Sirius returned.

"I did!" Peter insisted. "I t-t-told them! But then they said they'd Imperius me and have me tell the whole school! They didn't tell me they were going to hurt her!"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK THEY'D DO?" Sirius bellowed. "ASK HER TO TEA? YOU FUCKING IDIOT, PETER, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!"

Peter sobbed harder, and Sirius lost it.

"STOP CRYING, DAMMIT! IF ANYONE DESERVES TO CRY, IT'S MARY! JUST STOP IT! I CAN'T LISTEN TO THIS!" Sirius raised a hand.

James stepped between Sirius and Peter and pushed Sirius back several feet. Sirius was breathing very hard and James was looking at him differently than he ever had before. For the first time, James was looking at Sirius as if the latter were a Black – a true Black, capable of terrible things. Sirius had apparently not let go of some of the habits of his childhood teaching.

"Sirius," James said gravely. "Don't forget that Peter is your friend. Stand here and settle down a bit, alright?"

Sirius nodded, but seemed unable to speak. James returned to Peter, whose sobbing had ceased, but he was still shaking.

"Mate," James said gently. "Why didn't you come to us for help?"

"I…I thought I could handle it on my own," Peter admitted. "But I couldn't. I tried to lead Mary to a different spot in the woods, but I guess I didn't do a very good job. When I realized my mistake, I went to find help, and Regulus was the first person I found."

"Well, now those Slytherins think they're right about Ickle Remus," James said. "And I mean, they are, but they can't know that."

"They don't know for sure," Peter said. "They only had Severus's guess to go on."

"Okay, good," James said. "From now on, if you're being harassed by a bunch of Slytherins – or anyone for that matter – you don't have to try and do it on your own. We can help you. We want to help you. We're your friends, it's what we're here for. Okay?"

Peter nodded. Sirius approached, slowly, looking conflicted.

"Peter," he said. "I'm sorry I lost it. But I'm with James here. We've always had your back, and we always will."

"Thanks," Peter said with a sniffle. "I just…I wanted to prove I could handle things without you guys all the time…like a real Gryffindor. I really am so, so sorry."

"I forgive you," Sirius told him. "But the real person you owe an apology and an explanation to is Mary. She was so confused, and I don't want her to mistrust my friends."

Peter nodded, and promised to do just that, and that he would rely on them the next time he felt cornered.

That night, in the common room, Peter confronted Mary. She forgave him, then kissed Sirius good night and retired to her bedroom. Lily stayed a while, curled up next to James. The five of them sat by the fire, feeling more at peace than they had in a while.


	20. Chapter 20

Minerva McGonagall was dismissing her sixth years. "Now, remember your papers are due next week, and I expect one and a half rolls of parchment, and watch the handwriting size, Mr. Potter." Her students all rose to leave and then she added, "Mr. Black, if you will stay, please." She saw Sirius Black roll his eyes and make his was to her desk.

"Professor, I swear I won't write in giant hand writing again. I assumed you were throwing me in with James with that comment," he whined.

"Mr. Black, that is not what I wanted to discuss with you, but do keep that warning in mind," she replied, eyeing him over her square spectacles. She looked at this boy she had known for six years. She had never seen him experience such a range of emotions that she had seen over the past month. Sirius Black looked more defeated than when his mother sent him a howler for being sorted into Gryffindor. Minerva watched the eleven year old make fun of it to his friends and laugh with them, but she caught him crying in a corridor by himself hours after. At the time, she brought him to her office, and she let him know that she had no children of her own, so she couldn't speak on behalf of his mother, or take that place, but she would always be there for him. Before he left, he had given her a tight hug, leaving tear stains on her robes. He had never approached her after that instance, but she expected that from such a proud boy. Now, here he was, five years later, wearing the same expression, but not so tear stained. The world had hardened him so.

"Well, what can I do you for, Professor?" he tried to joke.

"Have a biscuit, Black," she instructed.

"No thanks Professor, I'm really not-"

"I said eat it." And he did. "I wanted to ask you how you're doing," she told him. "After the events taking place in the last month, I wanted to make sure you were in a healthy state of mind."

Sirius looked taken aback. Maybe he didn't remember when she had comforted him, and that made her heart hurt a little. He ran his fingers through his dark curls before replying, "Well, Mary seems to be doing great, and she's smiling and laughing a lot more, which is good."

"If I wanted to know how Ms. McDonald was doing, I would have asked her. I asked about yourself, Mr. Black."

Sirius chuckled. "Nothing gets by you, Professor."

She smirked at him. "I've done this job for a long time, Black."

He sighed. "Honestly Professor, I have no idea how I feel. I feel so drained and if I think about the situation any more I think it'll just drive me crazy. I just don't understand how people could be so evil. And to top it all off, one of my best mates put her in that situation. I just can't shake it. I'm trying my best to look happy, and I'm pretty sure everyone believes me, but I think at some point I'm just going to explode."

"We would have to fine your parents a lot of galleons for any explosions you may cause," she said, earning a laugh. "However, I would like to point out, that I didn't believe you for one second."

"It surprises me that you even noticed."

"Why does that surprise you?"

"Because no one really cares if I'm angry, or sad, or scared, or lonely. My whole family could give a rat's ass about me solely because I got sorted into the wrong house. My own mother doesn't even love me because of a status symbol. My girlfriend almost got raped because of a status symbol. The whole world revolved around your bloodline," he explained, exhausted over his words. "We can talk about how wrong it is all we want but nothing ever changes."

Minerva stared at Sirius for a long time before she answered. "You feel like no one cares about you because you don't care about bloodline?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"I can assure you, Mr. Black, that your opinion is very important. You and your schoolmates have the ability to make the world as you see fit. That is the beauty of every generation. As children grow up, they can see all that is wrong with the world and they grow into the power to change it. You and Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin and Ms. Evans are going to impact the world in phenomenal ways, I just know it. You may not have your mother's support, but you certainly have mine." She smiled at him. "I have seen many students from your lineage come through this school, Mr. Black, but I have seen none quite so incredible as you. You are intelligent, courageous, and most importantly, you love people so abundantly. It's the most admirable quality a person can have. You should cherish it."

Sirius seemed to lighten with her words. "Thank you so much, Professor, that means a lot."

"You are certainly welcome."

Suddenly, Sirius hugged her. She thought back to the time he hugged her before and wondered when he had gotten so tall. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he squeezed her slightly. Sirius put so many unsaid things in that hug. Minerva was touched at his vulnerability. "Thank you so much for always watching out for me. I know you told me when I was eleven to come and see you whenever, but I'm bloody proud," he said, pulling away from their embrace. Minerva beamed at him, so happy that he remembered. "Professor, I know you haven't had any children, but you would be a great mum," he said, as she started to write him a note for his next class.

She laughed. "Oh, you're wrong, Mr. Black, I've had hundreds of children."


	21. Chapter 21

The warm sun beat down on the marauders, so they sought the shade of the birch tree so familiar to them. Lily and Mary were perched on their respective boyfriends' laps, all relaxing in the shade, grateful that exams were over and all they had to worry about now was packing their things for the summer.

"So, what's everyone got planned for the summer?" wondered Peter.

"Well, I'm going back to James'," Sirius said. "His parents basically love me more than him now."

"Oi," James protested. "Just because you suck up to my mum –"

"Honestly, mate, it wouldn't kill you to do the dishes for her once in a while," Sirius interrupted.

"She's been able to do it with magic, why would I bother doing it by hand?" James argued.

"Builds character," Sirius explained. "Also, it won me a few galleons and some homemade cookies."

"Well, now I can do it with magic," James said. "And I'll have to. My parents won't be home essentially all summer."

Sirius raised his eyebrows and Remus whispered a not so subtle, "Oh no," under his breath.

"So," James continued. "That means everyone is invited over at any time for as long as you like." He turned to Lily. "Especially you, love."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know if my parents would be alright with that."

"Who says they have to know?" he pressed. "Tell them you're staying with Mary or something. Which would technically be true, since she's already agreed to come stay for a bit."

Lily rounded on her friend. "Is this true?"

Mary shrugged. "Yeah. James invited me ages ago."

Sirius turned eyes on James. "Mate, you invited my girlfriend and you didn't even tell me?"

"Sorry, mate, it's just that I forget to tell you things," he said. "So often it turns out that you already know."

"So, where are your parents going?" asked Remus.

"They're going to Australia," James explained. "They've got friends down there and they're going on some magical creature safari or something like that. All I really heard was that I've the house to myself and immediately began planning the amazing parties I will be throwing."

Sirius perked right up. "James, you and I are going to have the best parties in history, mate. I'm not even joking."

"Oh boy," sighed Remus. "I'm not coming to some ridiculous party."

"Ickle Remus, you've got to come," Sirius insisted. "You've got to be party mum."

Remus groaned. "Just when I thought 'ickle Remus' was starting to get old, now I'm 'party mum'?"

"Well, someone's got to make sure the house doesn't get destroyed," James said.

"It's not even my house!" Remus protested.

"But, we're your friends, so we know you'll be there for us," Sirius insisted.

Remus groaned again.

"No worries, ickle Remus," Sirius said. "You'll still have a great time."

"Why don't we rotate party mum?" Lily suggested.

"Ah, so you are coming?" James asked.

"Of course I'm coming!" Lily cried.

"Wicked," James said, grinning.

"I'm with rotating party mum," Mary added. "That way poor Remus doesn't hate us by the end of the summer."

"Alright, sounds like a plan," James agreed. "So, we've all got to promise that this summer will be crazy fun, and we're all going to be there for each other."

They all agreed. James and Sirius exchanged party ideas, with Lily and Mary interjecting here and there, for the remainder of the afternoon. It was actually a relief to know that they were going to get to see each other over the summer this year. Especially since it was their last summer before graduating. When the sun began to set, they began to gather their things to head inside. James hung back, and grabbed Lily's arm to keep her while the others walked away.

"James, what's going on?" she wondered.

"Lily, I really do want you to come and stay a bit this summer," he said. "But I just want you to know, there's no pressure or anything. I'm not just trying to…shag you, or whatever. This isn't some scheme to get into your pants. I just wanted to let you know."

"James," she said, gazing at him. "I wouldn't be dating you if I thought that all you wanted was to have sex with me. I know how much you care about me and respect me."

He kissed her. "Good. Because I do love you and I want you to feel safe."

"I do," she assured him. She almost told him that just reassuring her this way made her want him more, but she didn't want to spoil the moment. Honestly, she had wanted to take that step with James for a while, but could never get the timing right. She figured this summer would present a wonderful opportunity for it.

He pulled her under his arm and they walked back inside the castle, where they found their friends waiting for them.

"What were you two talking about?" Sirius wondered.

"If I wanted you to know, I wouldn't have waited for you to leave, would I?" James retorted.

Sirius put his hands up, as if in surrender. "Alright, don't bite my head off, we were just wondering."

They all made their way back toward Gryffindor tower, knowing they all had a lot of packing to do. The train was leaving from Hogsmeade in the morning.

The next day, six young Gryffindors made their way to the Hogsmeade station. James and Lily lead the way, with Sirius and Mary behind them. Remus followed them, and Peter took the rear. Their things were already loaded onto the train, and they all found a car together and prepared for the long ride back to London. For several hours they amused themselves paying Exploding Snap and exchanging chocolate frog cards and the like. Lily took a nap on James' shoulder for a while. Remus read a book for most of the way before he too fell asleep. It wasn't long before Mary and Peter followed suit, leaving James and Sirius to talk alone.

"It's been a helluva year, mate," James said.

Sirius gazed as his sleeping girlfriend. "It really has." He ran his fingers through Mary's hair absentmindedly.

"Looking forward to this summer, though," James continued. "It's hard to believe it's our last one."

"I know," Sirius agreed. "But hey, we're still gonna kick ass in the real world, just like we did at Hogwarts. You and Lily are gonna get married and then have a baby. We're all gonna be uncles and stuff."

"Good to know you've got it all planned out, Padfoot," James joked.

"I'm not joking," Sirius said. "You and Lily are gonna have the perfect little family."

"You and Mary won't?" James returned.

"Mary and I don't want that stuff," Sirius said. "Not with my…history."

"Makes sense," James said. "Although Lily and I are just starting out. We haven't even come close to talking about that stuff."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, come off it. I know you've thought about it."

"Of course I have, but I've been in love with her for years, haven't I?" James said. "I'm pacing myself with her. I've waited forever for this. But…I've also been thinking about the war."

"What about it?" wondered Sirius.

"I just mean we can only pretend that we're safe for so long," James explained. "Yeah, I can dream about marrying Lily and starting a family, but with everything that's going on – Muggleborns being killed, the rise of Voldemort – it's starting to look really scary. People are going to die, Sirius. We could all…" he trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

"You can't think like that, mate," Sirius said. "The war is coming, we both know that. But we're going to do our share. And let's face it, the Death Eaters don't stand a chance with the four of us coming into the fight, do they?"

James chuckled. "I suppose not."

"When the war is over, we'll be alright, you'll see," Sirius assured him. "But let's focus on right here and now. We've got our best friends with us, and the best girls in the world on our arms. We've got a house to ourselves for the whole summer, and parties to plan. As of now, the future is bright."

Sirius didn't want to admit that he honestly had the same fears as James. And Sirius knew the dangers of the Death Eaters firsthand. Regulus had already become drawn to those people before Sirius even ran away. The whole family had talked about how great Voldemort was for trying to "create a better world for witches and wizards" as they put it. It disgusted Sirius. He was glad he had his friends. They would enter the war after graduation, he knew. He hoped they would all make it, but right now, he had to comfort James. So, he pushed his own concerns away.

Eventually, everyone stirred awake with a couple hours to spare on the trip. They all reflected on the year, realizing that through all the drama, they had created some amazing bonds with one another. They were rather sad to pull into King's Cross station that evening.

Everyone's parents were waiting for them, save Sirius, who was going with James and his parents. The marauders all hugged and clapped each other on the back, promising to write, and knowing they'd see each other for most of the summer. Then James turned to Lily to say goodbye, starting with a kiss.

"I'll write to you every day," he said.

She laughed. "Oh, don't do that, you idiot. Once a week or so is plenty."

"You'll write back?" he asked.

"I promise," she assured him, placing another kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"Love you too," he replied. "And I'll see you at my house."

"See you then," she said.

With another swift peck, she left and joined her parents and an annoyed-looking girl that James guessed was Petunia. Then James and Sirius departed with James' parents, who informed the boys that they would only be home one week before departing for Australia. James and Sirius exchanged knowing grins.


	22. Chapter 22

Sirius stirred. His head was pounding. He looked around, his blurry vision starting to clear up. He realized he was on the floor. He groaned and started to sit up, but Mary was sleeping next to him on his shoulder. He lifted his other arm and heard a peeling sound, he was sticky all over.

"Ugh," he moaned. "What the bloody hell…"he trailed off as he looked around the room. There were probably twenty people in this room alone. All were unconscious on the couches, the floor, the coffee table, anywhere they could fit. He noticed there was one guy that was stark naked.

He wriggled free of Mary, who moved but did not wake up. He sat up and looked down and discovered he was in his knickers. He shook his head. He couldn't remember anything from last night. It was the first party he and James decided to throw over the summer and it was wild. There were red solo cups and empty beer and liquor bottles scattered all over the floor. He realized he was laying in some alcoholic liquid that smelled like beer. He got up and tried to find a face he recognized. Scanning the bodies in the living room, he saw almost everyone was from their class at Hogwarts, but there were some strangers. He kept hoping he would land on James or Remus at any moment, but he couldn't find them. He walked through to kitchen with no success at finding his friends, but there were more sleeping people all over the floor and counter so he headed upstairs.

He opened the first door in the hallway, which was James' room, and there he found James and Lily sound asleep over the covers and fully clothed. He silently thanked Merlin that he found them this way, knowing Lily would have been really disappointed if her first time was when she was super drunk. He went to James and gently shook him.

"Mate, wake up," he pleaded.

James groaned. "Go away."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "James Fleamont Potter if you don't wake up, I will tickle you."

"Okay, chill," James said, opening his eyes. "What do you want?" he whispered.

"What the hell happened last night? I don't remember a thing!"

"Oh Merlin, me neither," James answered, still rubbing his eyes.

"We need to find ickle Remus," Sirius suggested.

"Agreed," said James, kissing Lily lightly on the forehead and untangling himself from her. "Why are you in your underpants?" he asked, putting on his glasses.

"No idea, I just woke up on the living room floor in a puddle of beer. I honestly don't even know where to find my clothes," Sirius replied.

James snorted. "Damn, Padfoot," he chuckled.

"Shut up, Prongs," snapped Sirius. "Let's just find ickle Remus."

They found Remus in the next room over, the bathroom. He was bent over the toilet, also passed out. His head was laying on the toilet seat, drool coming out of his mouth. The room smelled of vomit, because Remus never got the chance to flush before he too fell asleep.

"Oh shit, even party mum got hammered last night," James observed.

"Yeah, I was hoping he could tell us what happened last night," Sirius replied. "Should we put him in the shower, then?"

James nodded and they proceeded to each take an arm and sit their friend in the tub, his legs draped over the side. They turned the shower on, running the cold water. Remus screamed.

"AHHHH! WHAT THE HELL?" he barked as he shook and spat water all over his friends and the floor. He stood quickly and James handed him a towel.

"You were unconscious, mate," Sirius explained.

"Ugh, what happened last night?" Remus asked as he dried off his hair. "What is that foul smell?" he asked as he wrinkled his nose.

"That would be your puke," James answered, flushing the toilet. "We were hoping you could tell _us_ what happened last night. You were supposed to be party mum!"

"I have no idea…" Remus trailed off. "I was only going to have one drink and then I just got carried away."

Suddenly all three of them froze. The sound they heard almost stopped their beating hearts. It came from down the hall, in the guest bedroom. James, Sirius and Remus had no idea what to do now. Remus' jaw fell, and Sirius felt the color drain from his face and panic rose in his heart.

"Did you guys just hear a baby cry?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"No. Fucking. Way." James said.

Remus just stood there with his mouth hanging open and hair dripping water on the bathroom floor. Without warning, he took off at top speed towards the sound. James and Sirius followed him.

Remus threw open the guest room door and found five people still asleep in there and a baby crying on the floor. He lost it. "WHY IS THERE A BABY IN HERE?!" he screamed, waking everyone in the room.

"Dude, not cool," said a stranger on the floor, still groggy and rubbing his eyes.

"WHOSE BABY IS THIS?!" Remus continued, rounding on James and Sirius. "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!"

"Oh NOW you want to be party mum!" Sirius retorted.

"Not really the time, Sirius," James warned his friend. Remus looked as is smoke might start coming out of his ears.

"Sorry, old habits die hard, ya know," Sirius replied instantly calmed down.

A small voice from the closet took all of their attention. It was a small girl that none of them knew. "It's my baby," she clarified, picking the child up and rocking him. "I heard about the party from a friend and I couldn't get a babysitter but I couldn't just miss out," she pleaded. All three boys glared at her.

"Get the fuck out," James commanded, pointing at the door. She scuttled out of the room without making any eye contact.

"What a dumb-"

"HOWDOPEOPLEJUSTLEAVETHEHOSPITALWITHBABIESTHISISANOUTRAGE" Remus continued yelling.

"Who cares?" Sirius replied. "That problem is taken care of."

Remus was breathing heavily. "I can't believe that girl. What the hell is wrong with people?" he wondered aloud.

Unexpectedly, there was a lot of noise coming from downstairs. "You must've woken everyone up, mate," said James, and they all headed downstairs.

Everyone was leaving. There had to be at least fifty people trying to get out of James' front door. There was a ton of commotion as they tried to get someone to stop, but everyone kept patting them on the back and telling them how much fun they had, that they threw a great party, and that they'd be back next time.

"Wait!" called James. "Does anyone know what happened last night? Why is this guy naked?" he asked, just noticing the guy leaving his house with no clothes on. No one heard him and soon the place was empty.

"Sirius, why are you in your underwear?" asked Remus, looking his friend up and down.

"We would probably know if one of them had stopped to explain," Sirius complained.

"I guess now we won't ever figure it out. Unless one of the girls remembers," James continued.

"I know what happened last night," said a voice from a dark corner behind them. All three of the boys turned around to find Elizabeth walking towards them.

"Elizabeth? Why would you even want to come here?" Sirius asked, appalled.

"Are you kidding me? This was supposed to be the party of the year. Like hell I would miss is."

"But you knew ickle Remus would be here," James argued.

"James, there were over 200 people here last night, you really think I was just not gonna come because of Remus?" Elizabeth retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. Then her face softened as she looked at Remus. "It just ended up being a great idea."

Remus flushed. "Uh… What do you mean?" he asked.

Elizabeth lightly touched him on the arm, and brought herself close to him. "We had a pretty special night last night," she said.

Sirius and James raised their eyebrows at each other skeptically, but Elizabeth continued, moving closer and closer to Remus' face. "Don't you remember? We were talking, then snogging, but then you called me-"

"Okay, enough!" interrupted Sirius. "I sincerely doubt that ickle Remus would do any of that, no matter how drunk he was, and this morning proves that he probably spent a majority of the night in the loo, so I think you should go now, right?"

"No, I wanna know what he called her," James protested. "Was it something really naughty?" he asked eagerly, ready for any excuse to taunt his friend.

"No," Elizabeth answered, and then she slapped Remus across the face. "He called me another girl's name!" she yelled, watching Remus hold his face in his hands.

"Merlin!" James cried, grabbing Elizabeth by her arms and moving her away from Remus. "That's a bit extreme, don't you think? He was drunker than a monkey last night, what's your problem?"

"Stop messing with me!" she shrieked, fighting James. "First you dodge my kiss in Hogsmeade, then you flirt with me all night, make a move, then you call me Lily, going on and on about how you can't hurt James!"

"Wait, what?" James let go of Elizabeth and she fell forward a bit. She straightened herself up and headed for the door.

"Elizabeth wait!" Sirius called. She turned around just before she grabbed the doorknob. "Can you at least tell me how I ended up in my underpants?"

"You and the naked guy had a contest to see who get undressed fastest while holding a shot in each hand. The loser had to take all four shots," and with that, she left the house, slamming the door behind her.

"I can't believe I lost that," Sirius muttered.

"Why did you call Elizabeth Lily?" James asked Remus, staring him down.

"Mate I was just drunk," Remus replied, laughing it off, and grabbing an ice pack from the freezer.

James also let out a humorless laugh. "No I don't think you were. Not if you kept saying you didn't want to hurt me. Not to mention the fact that you shouldn't even WANT to be snogging Lily."

"James, I don't even REMEMBER this happening! How can you possibly accuse me of something like this when I was barely conscious?"

"Ickle Remus is right, James," Sirius added. "For all we know, Elizabeth could be lying."

"What reason would she have to lie?" James pressed.

"I don't know, James. Perhaps to save face? Why does anyone lie about anything? I think you're really overreacting," Remus continued.

James thought this over for a minute. "If you ever had feelings for Lily, you would tell me. Wouldn't you, ickle Remus?"

"Of course I would. But you have absolutely no reason to believe that would ever happen. Lily is a lovely girl, James, and you know she and I are friends, but not everyone wants to date your girlfriend. Just because Severus did, doesn't mean the rest of do," Remus finished.

The room was silent for what seemed like a very long time. Then James broke it. "I'm sorry, mate. I shouldn't have accused you of anything. I guess when it comes to Lily, I'm so used to competing for her, and I just jumped to conclusions."

"Apology accepted," Remus said, touching his face tenderly. "I definitely couldn't stand getting hit in the face again today, so I'm glad you see it that way."

James chuckled. "She really got you good, didn't she?"

"She's got a good arm on her, for sure," Remus laughed.

"So lads, should we get this place cleaned up for tonight's party?" Sirius interjected, enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah, of course," they agreed. And that they did.

The party that night was just as big as the one the night before. Lily was just grabbing some more beers and making her way over to Mary to watch the game of beer pong continue. She had no idea this game that was so popular among muggles was also popular in the wizarding world.

"Hey, how's the game," she greeted Mary, handing her the other beer.

"It's good!" Mary replied, taking her beer. "Sirius and James are still absolutely running the table. I still think we should take them on."

"Oh, I'm so in," Lily told her, a sly grin spreading across her face.

Mary raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Okay, let's do it. Lily and I take on the winners!" Mary called out. Everyone reacted loudly. Sirius and James looked at each other and then at their respective girlfriends.

Sirius pointed at the girls. "You're on," he said, giving them a threatening nod, which Mary and Lily returned with equal enthusiasm. It was then that he sunk the game winning cup, and the girls took the place of the losers.

"So what do we get when we win?" Lily challenged. Everyone ooohed.

"Okay, Evans, I see how it is," James replied, nodding his head.

"If James and I win, you lot have to put out tonight," Sirius suggested, earning cheers from the crowd. James and Lily locked eyes, now feeling awkward since they had yet to be intimate.

"Okay," agreed Mary, raising her eyes at Sirius. "And if we win, you lads owe a strip tease. Here. Now. In front of everyone."

"You're on," Sirius agreed, and came around the table to shake hands.

"Um, Mary," Lily began, taking Mary's arm. "James and I-"

"We're gonna win, don't you worry your pretty head," Mary whispered back, as she shook Sirius' hand. Lily nodded her head and just decided to go with it. She knew, even if they lost, James would never hold her to that kind of bet.

James and Sirius rolled the balls to the other side of the table. "Ladies first," James said.

"Don't mind if we do," Mary agreed, taking a ping pong ball, aiming and sinking the first one. She leaned over to Lily and whispered, "I want you to bounce it."

Lily threw her ball and it bounced and went into a cup while the boys were still reacting to Mary's shot. The crowd cheered.

"I believe that's two, and we get your balls- I mean the balls- back," Mary said, tilting her head slightly, and holding out her hand. Lily laughed. Sirius huffed, moved the cups over, and rolled the balls back to the girls' side. Mary made her shot, but Lily missed hers so now it was the boys' turn. They did equally as well as the girls. The game came down to each side only having one cup. The crowd was also divided, the guys behind James and Sirius, and the girls behind Lily and Mary. Remus was the referee. Everyone was sweating. It was Mary's shot. She took careful aim before she threw the ball, sinking it with ease. The girls all screamed and hugged each other. Now it was up to Lily.

"Okay, Lily, if you make this shot we win," Mary said. "You got this." She clapped her friend on the back. The boys watched intensely.

Lily nodded in solidarity with the girls. She took her ball between her fingers and shook the left over beer off of it. She looked Mary in the eyes and said, "We're getting that strip tease tonight." A grin spread across over both their faces and she launched the ball into the air. It seemed to go in slow motion as is traveled through the air and every pair of eyes watched it sink into the cup waiting on the other side. After a moment of recognition, the girls began screaming and jumping up and down.

"See, Lily, I told you we would win!" Mary shouted through the sea of people surrounding them, alcohol spilling everywhere.

"You were amazing! I can't believe we did it!" Lily shouted back.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the show!" Mary yelled over the noise of the ecstatic girls and groaning guys. She led everyone into the living room and brought two chairs for Lily and herself to sit in. Sirius and James made their way up to their girlfriends.

"Ickle Remus, start the music," Sirius instructed, and Remus tapped the stereo system with his wand, starting up a song. Sirius and James straddled Mary and Lily in unison and began moving their hips in a circle as the slowly peeled their shirts off. The girls howled with laughter as they began swinging their shirts in the air, grabbing the back of the chairs as they did a series of pelvic thrusts. Then they both turned around, their legs still straddling their girls, bent over and shook their butts right in the girls' faces. The entire room was going crazy. Even Remus was doubled over, laughing. When James turned around to face Lily again, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him close.

"Did you and Sirius already have a routine?" she asked, her cheeks getting sore from smiling so much.

"Maybe. Maybe not," he replied, only making her laugh that much harder.

After the lap dance was finished, and James and Sirius began putting their clothes back on, Lily took James by the arm and whispered in his ear, "Leave it off." He stopped putting his shirt back on and grinned as she grabbed his hand and led him upstairs to his bedroom.

"That lap dance was pretty good then?" he asked, as he shut his door. "I can't believe I didn't think of that before. We could have been dating for years if I had only known."

Lily giggled. "Shut up." She sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside her. James sat, and she immediately started kissing him.

"Merlin, Lily, I love you," James managed to say when he came up for air.

"I love you too, James," Lily said, looking deep into his hazel eyes. "I really want you. Tonight. Right now, in fact."

"Really?" James asked. "I was just kidding about that lap dance bit."

Lily laughed. "Yeah, I know. But I thought a lot about it, and I really want this with you. We've been dating a little while now, and I trust you. You've given me all the reason in the world to do this with you. Now I feel ready. I love you, James Potter. I don't know how you did, but you got me to fall in love with you."

James smiled at her. "You're absolutely sure it wasn't the lap dance?"

She playfully slapped his arm, as he leaned over to kiss her. "Shut up," she repeated as they laid down together. Lily forever remembered that night as being one of the most magical of her life. James was perfectly gentle, but still masculine and reassured. Never before had she been kissed so tenderly and never before had she felt so completely safe with another person. She had known for a while, but that night confirmed for her that James was her person, and only death could part them.


	23. Chapter 23

The next morning, James Potter felt as if he were the king of the world – nay, the universe. He was with the girl of his dreams, and she trusted him enough to be incredibly vulnerable by making him her first. He felt honored, but also like he was truly the man. He gazed on Lily's sleeping face, her forehead slightly gleaming with sweat, and recognized just how much he loved her. He loved her more than he had ever loved anyone, and he would never be with anyone else. Lily was it for him. The one. His person. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open and she met his gaze.

"Morning," she said with a smile.

He returned it. "Morning…lover."

She giggled. "Oh, shut it."

He pressed his lips sweetly to hers. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "You?"

"Never better," he replied. Neither of them could stop smiling.

"What time is it?" she wondered.

"Who cares?" he returned. "Let's just lay here together all day. I don't want to be anywhere else."

Lily did not think it possible but her grin spread even further. She felt the familiar ache in her cheeks as if James had just made her laugh for a long time.

"Seriously, we should get downstairs," she said.

She detached herself from James, who groaned in protest, but threw back the covers and got up with her. They pulled some clothes on and headed downstairs. They were shocked to find that there were no stragglers from last night, and that Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Mary were already awake and having breakfast and coffee.

"Well, it's about time you two got up," Sirius said in a mocking motherly tone. "Your breakfast is about to be cold!"

They took seats next to each other at the table as Mary put plates of bacon and eggs in front of them. Sirius followed with cups of coffee, then sat across from the couple. Throughout the meal, James and Lily exchanged knowing glances with one another, constantly feeling like everything else hardly mattered anymore.

The next couple weeks carried on similarly. Outside of parties, James and Lily found any excuse to disappear to James's room for a while and "study" as they had codenamed it. They fooled no one, but their friends allowed it, not wanting to embarrass them. Actually, Sirius wanted very badly to embarrass them, but Remus and Mary talked him out of it. One morning, during coffee, there was a knock on the door.

"It's probably whoever left their bra in my parents' room," James said as he got to his feet. "I'll get it."

He padded out to the foyer and opened the door with a lazy tug. A surprise met him, however. It was not a person from the party the night before. It was Sirius's brother, Regulus.

"What the bloody hell do you want?" James demanded, glaring at the other boy.

By nature, James disliked Regulus. First off, he was a Slytherin, and that was just a given. Second, he was a part of the family that had so abused Sirius. Third, he was in with Snape and those other freaks obsessed with the Dark Arts and actually wanting to join the Death Eaters. Fourth, he played Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team and was actually a very good player. Acknowledging talent in anyone as detestable as this made James's dislike increase all the more, which he hardly thought possible.

"I've got some news for Sirius," Regulus said simply.

"Well, I can tell you now that he doesn't want to see you," James returned.

"It won't take long," Regulus insisted. "And it concerns his inheritance."

Scowling, James opened the door wider and allowed Regulus to cross the threshold. As James looked at Regulus, he could not comprehend how everyone said he resembled Sirius. Sirius was warm, friendly, and casual. Regulus was cold, distant, and rigid. To James, this was so not Sirius that any comparison was a little insulting to his best mate.

"He's in the kitchen," James instructed.

Regulus only nodded and followed James inside. Sirius was mid-bite into his bacon when he saw his brother. He frowned and placed the bacon back on his plate. The very air in the room had stiffened. The only person who did not seem at all disturbed by Regulus was Mary. James suddenly remembered that it was Regulus who had rescued Mary from a vicious attack by a group of Slytherins during the school year. He softened, but only slightly.

"Hello, Mary," Regulus said to her, to everyone's surprise. "Alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What do you want?" Sirius asked, in the same accusatory tone James had minutes before.

"Uncle Alphard died," Regulus said simply. "We found his will while cleaning out his house." Upon saying this, he reached into his robes and retrieved a long roll of parchment. "He's left you all of his gold."

Mary, Lily, and Peter gasped. Remus and James turned eyes on Sirius, who did not react immediately. He continued to glare at his brother before finally his eyebrows travelled up his forehead again and he relaxed his tense shoulders. It seemed almost as if a physical weight had been placed on him.

"When did he die?" he asked.

"Yesterday," Regulus answered.

Sirius frowned again before jumping to his feet and snatching the will out of his brother's hands. "You lot are the most heartless people. He's hardly cold and you're already going through his stuff and worrying about his gold." He unrolled the document himself, checking that Regulus was telling the truth. His eyes went wide. "Merlin's pants! That's a lot of gold!

"Yes, Mother tried to dispute this seeing as you're no longer family, but unfortunately the will is binding – legally and magically," Regulus continued as if Sirius had not said anything. "The gold was automatically transferred to your Gringott's vault the moment he died. Mother was so furious at his helping you that she burned him from the family tapestry as well."

"Well, you can tell mummy dearest that she take that tapestry and shove it up her –" Sirius began, but Mary cut across him.

"Thanks, Regulus," she said gently. "Sirius just needs time to process this. Would you like a coffee? A bit of toast?"

Regulus looked as though he would very much like to take her up on this offer, but he hesitated.

"No, Mary," Sirius answered. "He's got his little Death Eater pals to catch up with, I bet."

For a fleeting moment, Regulus's cold exterior melted. Some color drained from his face, and his eyes became wide and round. He looked frightened. Sirius almost felt concerned, but did not allow himself to express it. Regulus cleared his throat and regained his composure.

"Thanks, Mary, but I've got to be off," he said. "We're still going through Uncle's house, and Mother can't decide if she wants to keep everything or – as she said – 'trash anything that blood traitor's put his hands on.'"

"Charming," said Sirius with a sneer. "Well, she certainly can't do that alone. Off you go, then."

Again, Regulus hesitated. Then he turned on his heel and swept from the room. They heard the front door open and close as he left. James went to Sirius.

"You alright, mate?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sirius answered. "I'm not devastated by the death or anything, my uncle and I weren't that close. But this…this is very generous of him."

James glanced at the amount indicated on the will. "Merlin's beard!"

The rest of the group gathered behind James and took a look as well.

"Merlin!" they all gasped.


End file.
